Finance
Diezani: EFCC grills ex-NNPC chiefs over subsidy graft
LAGOS-Anti-graft investigators with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are currently interrogating a former managing director of one of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and three former executive directors of the oil corporation under ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The four are said to be under investigation by officials of the Subsidy Unit of the EFCC and their counterparts from the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom in relation to the former minister’s case.
The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that the ex-NNPC MD and the three former EDs had already been directed to be reporting to investigators. The four were said to be “very close” to Alison-Madueke while in office.
An EFCC source said the ex-minister might appear in court on Monday (today).
“The man has been sacked now. He has been reporting to the EFCC since. Even three former executive directors are also reporting to the EFCC to tell the agency what they know about the NNPC funds,” a top official of the anti-graft agency said.
Check however indicated that the former MD being investigated was not among the oil barons that were picked up in the UK for alleged complicity in the money laundering case against the former minister.
It was further gathered that security agents were also probing an estranged ally of the former minister and two others in the UK.
The UK authorities have been keeping the identities of the affected people in line with their practice of keeping the identities of those arrested until they are taken to court.
Our correspondents could not get the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Sunday as calls to his mobile telephone line indicated that it had been switched off.
But a top operative of the EFCC said on Sunday that the EFCC investigation into the activities of the NNPC was not just about Alison-Madueke.
The source said that more people could be grilled in relation to the probe of the corporation.
The source added that the UK Police, which had been monitoring the former minister for close to two years, had “something substantial” before moving against her.
Meanwhile, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, while speaking on the recent arrest and bail of Alison-Madueke, dismissed insinuations that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was out to settle political scores.
Tsav, who spoke on the telephone with one of our correspondents, noted that the former minister lived like she was above the law.
Tsav cited Alison Madueke’s refusal to appear before the National Assembly to answer charges of malfeasance levelled against her as evidence of her “arrogance” and disdain for the legislature and the country’s laws.
He said, “When (ex-President Goodluck) Jonathan was still in power, the National Assembly invited her several times to answer questions on some of these issues but she never honoured any of the invitations.
“Even when the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, now Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, made the allegations that US$20bn was not accounted for; she refused to appear before the National Assembly.”
Tsav said Nigeria had had the privilege of having credible women such as Gambo Sawaba, Margaret Ekpo and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who fought for the good of society and wondered why it had become increasingly difficult to replicate their outstanding performances.
He described as embarrassing the fact that Nigeria still depended almost completely on the British police and its criminal justice system to bring our corrupt public officials to book, 55 years after our independence.
According to him, corruption is more than anything else responsible for the inability of our criminal justice system and our anti-graft agencies to act decisively over the past few years.
Tsav said, “Our anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria are not effective, apparently because there is too much political interference.
“In the case of (ex-Delta State Governor James) Ibori for instance, they found him not guilty in Nigeria but he was arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the UK.
“These agencies are either corrupt themselves or their activities are being interfered with by politicians. But I would rather believe that they themselves are corrupt and they are not willing to perform their duties very well.”
Business
Nigeria pays US$4.9 billion on petrol subsidy in 2024- NNPCL
It was however noted by Biztellers.com.ng, that although subsidy is back in effect, the main reason for that is the increasingly weak state of the Naira and the country’s extreme dependence on products importation. Also unlike the previous subsidy era, where several oil marketers were getting free subsidy refunds for unverified product importation, this subsidy era is witnessing only one importer, the NNPCL, which in effect is the sole receiver of government subsidies.
Yemie ADEOYE
INSPITE of the official position of the Nigerian government that the controversial petrol subsidy is gone for good as announced by the President on assumption of office, the state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL has disclosed that petrol subsidy is still fully operational in Nigeria, although, under a different identity.
Umar Ajiya, Chief Financial Officer at the NNPCL, disclosed that it cost the company a staggering N7.8 trillion (US$4.9) to cover this price gap in the first seven months of 2024.
Rather than simply referring to these claims as subsidies, he stated that the company is merely managing the price difference in petrol imports on behalf of the federation, stressing that this should not be misconstrued as a return to subsidy payments.
This revelation has reignited discussions on whether the NNPC is indirectly offering subsidies, a concept typically defined as selling a product below its cost price.
Documents reviewed by Biztellers.com.ng showed that the term “subsidy” was used extensively in official correspondence between the NNPCL and the presidency, particularly in reference to the “shortfall.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu reportedly approved NNPC’s request to utilize the 2023 final dividends due to the federation to offset these costs.
However, during a media briefing on Monday about the company’s 2023 audited financial statements, Ajiya refuted claims that the NNPC is involved in any subsidy scheme.
Ajiya further disclosed that the Nigerian government owes the NNPC N7.8 trillion ($4.9 billion) in subsidy-related debts for the period from January to July 2024.
In furtherance of his clarification to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ajiya insisted that no subsidy payments have been made to any marketer in the last nine years, citing the NNPC’s role as the sole importer of petrol under supply contracts.
He said, “In the last eight to nine years, NNPC Ltd. has not paid anyone a dime as a subsidy; no kobo has been disbursed by NNPC Ltd. in the name of subsidy. No marketer has received any payment from us for subsidy.”
“What has been happening is that we have been importing PMS, which has been landing at a specific cost price, and the government tells us to sell it at half price. So the difference between the landing price and that half price is a shortfall.
“And the deal is between the Federation and NNPC Ltd., to reconcile, sometimes they give us money, so there is no money exchanging hands with any marketer in the name of subsidy.”
Ajiya remained silent on how much of the $4.9 billion could have been remitted to the federation account if the NNPC had not been covering the “shortfall.”
It was however noted by Biztellers.com.ng, that although subsidy is back in effect, the main reason for that is the increasingly weak state of the Naira and the country’s extreme dependence on products importation. Also unlike the previous subsidy era, where several oil marketers were getting free subsidy refunds for unverified product importation, this subsidy era is witnessing only one importer, the NNPCL, which in effect is the sole receiver of government subsidies.
Banking
CBN Denies Currency Devaluation
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has refuted claims of devaluing the.
Earlier reports suggested that the CBN had devalued the Naira, lowering its exchange rate from N631 to the dollar, compared to the previous day’s rate of N461.60 at the Importers and Exporters (I&E) window.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a statement on Thursday through its Acting Head of Corporate Communications, Dr. Isa Abdulmumin, categorizing the report as false information.
In the statement titled ‘CBN Has Not Devalued The Naira’, he said the attention of the apex bank was drawn to the news report by an Abuja based newspaper edition of June 1, 2023, titled “CB Devalues Naira To 630/51”.
However, the CBN stated categorically that the news report was replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, ‘reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.’
“For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters (I&E) window traded this morning (June 1, 2023) at N465/USS1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.
“The public is hereby advised to ignore the news report by Daily Trust in its entirety, as it is speculative and calculated at causing panic in the market,” the CBN spokesman added.
He, therefore, advised media practitioners to verify their facts from the Central Bank of Nigeria before publishing in order not to misinform the public.
Banking
BREAKING: CBN Increases Interest Rate By 0.5%
The interest rate in Nigeria has been raised to 18.5 percent, up by 0.5 percent, from 18 percent where it was pegged in March 2023.
The Central Banks of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) resolved to this effect at its third meeting of 2023 in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Governor, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, made the disclosure in the communiqué of the MPC’s meeting, thereafter.
While engaging the media at the end of the two-day meeting, Emefiele, said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR.
In the view of the MPC, rising inflation rate is traceable to the high energy cost and challenges around the supply chain, among others, which lie outside the corridors of the CBN.
Emefiele said, “The current trend in price development would continue to be monitored by the bank with greater collaboration with fiscal authority to address the drivers of inflation.”
Biztellers reports that the CBN had effected six consecutive interest rate increases, which has seen the rate move from 11.5 percent in March 2022 to 18.5 percent in May 2023.