No outstanding dividend payments to FG, NLNG insists

The Nigeria LNG Limited’s (NLNG) has insisted that it has no outstanding dividend payment to the Federal Government.

The management of the company said its attention has been drawn to news reports about the call by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to the House of Representatives to probe the alleged loss of $15.9 billion dividend accruing to the Federal Government, and wished to clarify as follows:

“NLNG like every responsible corporate entity supports the principles and objectives of NEITI, including the promotion of transparency in payments by extractive industry companies to governments and government-linked entities.

“NLNG has no outstanding dividend payments to government and continues to conduct its business in accordance with regulation and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“NLNG is aware that NEITI had previously stated publicly in 2016 that      records indicate that NLNG duly made the applicable dividend paymentto the NNPC as representative of Government’s interest in the venture.”

The NEITI’s 2017 Policy Brief document specifically detailed dividend payments by NLNG to NNPC between 2000 and 2014 and confirms that NNPC acknowledged receipt of same.

The implication of political interest in NLNG will be inimical for the economy due to the fact that prospective investors in similar business ventures are no thinking otherwise because such business will also face political risks and NLNG is facing.

The first was the proposed amendment to the NLNG Act which will mandate the company to be paying additional three per cent tax to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) while Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is also in court trying to see what it can get as tax/levy from the NLNG, a private company.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Mr. Tony Attah, stated recently that the company has paid $5.5 billion as taxes since the 10 years tax holidays granted by the NLNG Act for Company Income Tax expired.

This is coming as the price of liquefied gas in 2016 was the lowest in seven years with the company generating $4.723 billion in 2016, against the all-time peak of $11.592 billion generated in 2012.

Presenting the company’s Facts and Figures contained in NLNG 2017 publication, a compendium of the NLNG business in Lagos recently in the presence of the company’s Deputy Managing Director, Sadeeq Mai-Bornu; General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke and Finance General Manager, Solomon Folaranmi, the CEO said the company paid $5.5 billion in taxes during the period, while cumulative revenues since inception was $90 billion.

Attah said the company also generated $13 billion for the Federal Government through feedgas purchases and $15 billion in dividends, adding that while monetising the country’s gas resources, the company contributed to reducing gas flaring from 65 per cent to less than 20 per cent.

“In addition, NLNG has contributed significantly to the domestic LPG industry, supplying some 40 per cent of cooking gas to Nigerian homes and businesses. This intervention continues as part of strategies and initiatives aimed at deepening the availability and usage of cooking gas in the country. In the Niger Delta, NLNG committed more than $200 million to corporate social responsibility projects in the Niger Delta especially in the areas of capacity building and infrastructure development. We are also ready to commit some N60 billion to see the Bonny-Bodo road come into reality and commit N3 billion annually for the next 25 years to transform Bonny into a Dubai of sorts. All these are achieved with a management staff entirely made up of Nigerians and a workforce which is 95 per cent indigenous. But all of these achievements are in jeopardy with the proposed amendment by the House,” he explained.