We Don’t Have $3.5Billion Subsidy Fund, NNPC Insists

By Ruth Olurounbi

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday said did not spend $3.5 billion petroleum subsidies a day after the country’s lawmakers said it is investigating the alleged spending.

The Senate President Bukola Saraki said on Tuesday that he expects that the senate committee on the downstream sector will report back to the house next week after it must have summoned the NNPC officials to account for the spending that was allegedly not included in the national budget.

But the state oil firm is denying any wrong doing in an emailed statement.

According to the corporation’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, the said fund is domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), suggesting that it could not have had access to the fund without authorization.

The fund, he said, is 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) ans as such, 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 cou