AS controversy over a secret oil proceeds account continued yesterday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) fingered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as operator of the account.
The corporation’s Group Executive Director (Finance), Mr. Bernard Otti told the Joint Senate Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Appropriation and Finance investigating government’s fuel subsidy scheme, that the Morgan account was actually opened by the CBN on NNPC’s behalf in 2002 and had remained the sole signatory to the account.
The Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had earlier on Monday, exonerated her ministry from the operation of the account. Although she confirmed having knowledge of its existence, she claimed not to have a role to play in it since it was the responsibility of NNPC to source revenue for the Federal Government and subsequently remit it to the CBN.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, who told the committee on Monday that the CBN was the operator of the account confirmed his stand yesterday, when he appeared in the company of Otti before the committee to clarify issues on the said account.
In his testimony, Otti noted that CBN operates the account on behalf of NNPC right from the beginning, when the account was opened in the United States (U.S.).
“The NNPC has no direct contact with the J.P. Morgan account. The account was opened by the CBN on behalf of the NNPC. It was opened in the last quarter of 2002 by the CBN for NNPC.
“The account is operated by NNPC for the CBN. CBN has its correspondent banks to which NNPC isn’t a party. NNPC doesn’t operate that account; NNPC operates domiciliary account with CBN”, he said.
Although Otti maintained that the money paid into the account was crude (oil) proceeds, he said NNPC was not a party to its transaction. “Our relationship with the CBN accounts begins and terminates with that account,” he added. He added that the CBN was the only signatory to the account and as such, NNPC was not even in the account mandate.
“CBN is the signatory to that account. We have no relationship with Morgan whatsoever. We are not in the mandate”, he said.
The committee has, however, resolved to explore means of ensuring that accounts not known to the constitution are legalized and monies paid directly into the Federation Account.
Also, as the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation resumed investigation into the activities of the sector yesterday, the Managing Director, Assert Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Mr. Mustapha Chike Obi, disclosed that distressed airlines owe the corporation to the tune of N135 billion.
He also told the committee that eight airlines in the country with non-performing loans had been taken over by the corporation. According to him, out of this number, two are among airlines that accessed the controversial N300 billion Aviation Intervention Fund.
Although he declined giving names of the airlines publicly, he assured the Senator Hope Uzodinma-led committee that the list would be released on the condition that it would not be made public.
Commenting on challenges confronting the industry, Chike Obi identified the high cost of aviation fuel, stressing that about 40 per cent of airline cost was spent on aviation fuel. For government to assist the sector, he admonished the need to control the cost of aviation fuel.
He said that government should, as a matter of policy, devise a monitoring mechanism to ensure that airline operators use funds made available to them to improve their operations.
Asked where AMCON got the N2 trillion it used to buy over non-performing loans, he said the corporation was not spending government’s money.
He noted that the only government money utilized by the company was the N10 billion appropriated for the corporation by the National Assembly.
The Co-Chairman and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nkeiruka Onyejiocha, in her reaction, noted that the problem with the aviation sector was not whether government wanted to assist to improve the sector, rather, the issue deals with the fact that operators in the sector have been diverting funds made available to them to upgrade the fleet to other uses.
Onyejiocha insisted the AMCON should wake up to its statutory functions, especially as they relate to monitoring how funds allocated to airline operators are used.
“You cannot do the same thing over and over again and expect to get a different result. Statutory institutions must do their duty to the country.
“We must get the aviation sector right in the interest of all us even if it means scrapping airlines that failed to do the right thing. Things must be done the right way. The aviation sector is so important to be left the way it is at the moment.”
The Senate also received from President Goodlcuk Jonathan, a letter introducing the enactment of a Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Police Reform Trust Fund and other related matters, 2012, into law.
Meanwhile, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the relevant government agencies to join in the war against corruption by prosecuting all the persons indicted by the ad hoc committee on oil subsidy of the House of Representatives formerly headed by Farouk Lawan.
Lawan is currently being investigated over an alleged sum of $620,000 he collected from the chairman of Zenon Oil, Femi Otedola to remove the name of his company from the list of companies that collected fuel subsidy without executing the job.
In a statement issued yesterday by the national chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur, the party expressed full support for the exercise of the National Assembly and urged all relevant agencies to prosecute those indicted in the report.
The statement read: ‘’The public hearing organized by the House of Representatives on fuel subsidy provided Nigerians the opportunity to express their feelings and to make meaningful contributions during the probe. This is commendable.
“You are all aware that the report exposed monumental fraud and corruption in the oil sector. The National Assembly should be encouraged to carry out such investigations to assist in the fight against corruption.
“The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is in full support of the position of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, for a drastic action to be taken against fraudsters and any person discovered to be involved.
“I call on the EFCC and any other security agencies charged with the responsibility of handling the report to do a thorough job and prosecute all those who are indicted by the report in accordance with the law.”
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