The Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has been found to have illegally divert $1.05 Billion (N378 billion) which it obtained by the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas, NLNG, as dividend funds.
According to an expose by an online newspaper, Premium Times, the funds was diverted to “secretly fund subsidy payment on petroleum products”.
In October, a motion by Biodun Olujimi, a senator from Ekiti, triggered debates in the National Assembly on a purported $3.5 billion fund managed Nigeria’s state owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
In response, the NNPC denied that it had the alleged $3.5 billion in its coffers but that it had a $1.05 billion fund it is using to stabilise petrol supply and distribution in the country.
Ndu Ughamadu, the spokesperson of the state owned oil firm, had claimed the corporation sourced the fund from an ‘international agency’.
But it turns out that Maikanti Baru, NNPC group managing director, ended up admitted that the billion dollar money from the NLNG dividend fund.
Several lawmakers have said that by this action, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has infringed on the nation’s appropriation law, thereby committing impeachable offences.
“Documents in the possession of this newspaper have now shown that the fund was sourced at the height of the fuel scarcity crisis between last December and January and was secretly diverted into payments on petrol supply and distribution,” Premium Times claimed in it’s report.
“The funds came from dividends paid to the federal government by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company, a firm in which the government owns 49 percent equity.
“The Nigerian government is represented in the NLNG shareholding arrangement by the NNPC with 49 percent stake. Other shareholders are Shell (25.6 percent), Total (15 percent) and Eni (10.4 percent).
“Dividends from the gas firm are meant to be shared by the federal, state and local governments of Nigeria. The funds are supposed to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation rather than spent unilaterally by any tier of government.
“But PREMIUM TIMES has now confirmed that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government unilaterally — without required consultation with states and the national assembly– tampered with the NLNG funds. That was also done without the mandatory appropriation by the National Assembly,” the online newspaper wrote.
Below are the documents confirming this report. Click on any image to enlarge.
