NNPC denies custody of $3.5bn subsidy fund

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclaimed the insinuation that it has in its custody $3.5billion Subsidy fund.

NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a release Wednesday in Abuja, 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.

Ughamadu revealed that accordingly, NNPC initiated the move to raise a revolving fund of $1.05billion, since the corporation was, and still is, the sole importer and supplier of white products in the country.

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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.

Ughamadu 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 (OGF), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).

Mr. Ughamadu clarified in the release that 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.

The NNPC spokesperson said, for the avoidance of doubt, the corporation was fully aware that it is only the National Assembly that has the statutory responsibility to appropriate on petroleum subsidy matters.