NNPC Denies Custody Of $3.5Bn Subsidy Fund

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has denied claims
that it has in its custody three point five billion dollars subsidy
fund.

In a statement in Abuja, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs
Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, explained that at the hit of
the shortage of products supply at the close of last year, the National Assembly asked the NNPC to do everything possible to stem the
hiccups.

Mr. Ughamadu revealed that accordingly, NNPC initiated the move to raise a revolving fund of one point zero five billion dollars, since the corporation was, and still is, the sole importer and supplier of white products in the country.

The NNPC spokesman said ever since, the fund had been domiciled in the
Central Bank of Nigeria, saying at no time was it in the custody of the NNPC.

He said the fund, dubbed the National Fuel Support Fund, had been jointly managed by the NNPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the
Federal Ministry of Finance, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory
Agency, PPPRA, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).

Mr. Ughamadu clarified that the NNPC did not independently spend a dime of the fund which he said, was to ensure stability in the petroleum products supply in the country.

He said, the corporation was fully aware that it is only the National
Assembly that has the statutory responsibility to appropriate on
petroleum subsidy matters.”