Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Monday unveiled the 2021 Oil and Gas industry report which showed that collectible revenue due to Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) arising from NNPC and other oil companies stood at $8.265 billion within the period under review.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, while giving executive summary of the report to stakeholders during the exercise, stated that while revenues due for collection from 47 companies stood at $1.342 billion, that of the NNPC Limited stood $6.923 billion.
The revenues streams, according to the NEITI boss, are from oil royalty, gas royalty, gas flare payments, concession rental, Late return penalty, Value Added Tax among others.
According to the Report, the total revenue from the oil and gas sector in 2021 from the 23 revenue streams was US$23,046,088,000.
The report indicates there was an increase of 12.82% in total revenue collections when compared with the 2020 revenue of US$20,430,387,000.
Also, total collections from sales of crude oil, gas and feedstock was $12,560,268,000 representing 54.50% of the total collections compared to 52.78% in 2020.
“There was an increase in in-kind payments from US$2,191,281,000 in 2020 to US$3,895,261,000 in 2021. This increase of 77% was as a result of more production from PSC operations and other alternative funding arrangements than cash call funded JVs.
“The sum of US$23.046billion, which represents the total crude oil and gas revenue was expected to be remitted to the Federation for 2021.
“However, NLNG dividend of US$722.596million,miscellaneous revenue of US$859,583 and transportation revenue of US$24.332million which all form part of the total revenue reported were not remitted to the Federation Account.
“In addition, a total sum of US$4.786million out of the sum of US$797.019million shown as NDDC levy was reconciled with CBN,being payments made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that carried out recovery on behalf of NDDC in 2021. Companies also confirmed that NDDC payments were made into the account of EFCC for subsequent periods from 2021.
“There was no disclosure of volumes of transported commodities through the pipelines in accordance with EITI requirement. However, some information on crude handling charges and tariffs were provided but the information was inadequate for an independent computation of crude transportation fees.
“The total sum of US$23.046billion revenue from the Oil and Gas sector was inclusive of deductions made by NNPC from the sale of Federation crude oil and gas prior to remittance to the Federation Account,amount unremitted by NNPC as at year end and payments made directly to Sub-national entities” .
Orji further stated that the Report covered a total of 69 companies and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), and also 13 Government Entities and One State Owned Enterprise which is the NNPC Ltd.
According to him, the release of this report is a mandatory requirement in compliance with Nigeria’s national and global obligations of the EITI/NEITI process, adding that the event is also consistent with our implementation of NEITI’s 5 year (2022-2026) Strategic plan.
The report, he said, reviewed processes that characterized all transactions within the sector.
“It looked at independent assessment of financial transactions in the areas of revenue receipts and payments and how the processes weighed on the scale of transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector during the period under review. Other areas that NEITI focused in this report were on investments made by the Federation or the Federal Government in the oil and gas industries, subsidy payments, company remittances and liabilities in terms of unremitted funds due to the Federal Government or the Federation” .
In his remarks, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu, assured that the report would be given its deserved attention in the House of Representatives.
He also noted emphasized the need to amend the NEITI Act of 2007 to empower the organization with powers to take actions against offenders in their anti corruption programmes.
Also speaking, Engr. Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), urged the lawmakers not to see the report as political but use it as a working document which ought to be followed through.
“Most of the reports in the past, I regret to say, are not followed through” he said urging the National Assembly to hold the organizations and agencies accountable.
