Ugochukwu
Okoroafor, the Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, said in a statement
on December 12, 2013, Thursday that any discussion of the alleged letter to be
inappropriate.
The
CBN offered 10 “clarifications.”
Among
them, the it stressed that in the performance of its, role it is natural for
the CBN to be concerned at the low level of accretion to reserves and the
Excess Crude Account, despite strong international oil prices, especially as
Nigeria's performance is compared with other oil-producing economies.
This
amounts to a reiteration of the bank governor’s reason for writing the letter
to President Jonathan in the first place, and that the NNPC stands guilty as
charged.
The
CBN also took the opportunity to restate its support of the Petroleum Industry
Bill (PIB).
It
would be recalled that SaharaReporters reported on December 9, 2013 that in the
letter, which CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi hand-delivered to President
Jonathan in September, he lamented the continuing failure of the NNPC to honor
its legal obligations to the country, including failure to remit $49.8 billion
to the Federation Account between 2012 and 2013, representing 76% of the value
of crude oil liftings during that period.
“Our
analysis of the value of crude oil export proceeds based on the documentation
received from pre-shipment inspectors shows that between January 2012 and July
2013, NNPC lifted 594,024,107 barrels of crude valued at
$65,332,350,514.57.
Out
of this amount, NNPC repatriated only $15,528,410,098.77 representing 24% of
the value. This means the NNPC is yet to account for, and repatriate to
the Federation Account, an amount in excess of $49.804 billion of the value of
oil lifted in the same period,” the alleged letter said.
Full
text of the press statement by the CBN below [unedited]:
CENTRAL
BANK OF NIGERIA
The
attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to an emerging
public discourse around a letter purportedly written by
the Governor to His Excellency
the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria,
Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan, GCFR, expressing concerns over non-remittance
of oil revenues by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC).
The
Central Bank of Nigeria will neither
confirm nor deny the existence of such a letter
and considers any discussion by it on the
alleged letter to be inappropriate.
However,
to the extent that the matter is gathering momentum in the public space,
and seems to be assuming a highly politicized dimension, the Bank wishes
to issue the following clarifications:
1.
The CBN is statutorily mandated to establish price stability,
protect the external value of our national currency,
manage the external reserves of the Federation and
ensure the smooth functioning of our
financial system, as well as
adviser to the President on economic matters.
2.
The capacity of the Bank to perform its role effectively is strengthened
or undermined by the extent to which the nation
is able to increase foreign
exchange earnings and savings from
these earnings, thus boosting the Excess Crude
Savings Account, raising reserve levels, providing currency
stability and moderating interest rates with limited risks to
inflation and financial stability.
3.
In the performance of this role it is natural for the CBN to be
concerned at the low level of accretion to reserves and the Excess
Crude Account, inspite of strong international oil prices,
especially as Nigeria's performance is compared
with other oil producing economies.
4.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is aware
that this concern is shared by Mr.
President, the Federal
Ministry of Finance, Ministers,
State Governors, legislators, economists, analysts and all
stakeholders involved in managing the economy and discussions on how
to address the matter are being held
at highest levels of Government.
5.
The CBN is aware that, on the instruction of the Honourable
Minister of Petroleum Resources, the audit
firm, PWC has been directed to audit the revenues of the
NNPC.
6.
The CBN is also aware of a proposal to
set up a technical team made up of representatives
the Federal Ministry of Finance, the NNPC and the CBN
to examine the sources of any revenue
leakages and propose appropriate fiscal controls.
7.
The CBN welcomes these initiatives and believes that they
represent a positive contribution to the process of improving
the management of the economy, especially if they
lead to greater oversight
of the Finance
Ministry over oil revenues and improvements
in disclosure and transparency in the Oil Industry.
8.
The Central Bank of Nigeria
recognizes that there is an urgent
need to review fiscal terms of
sharing revenues between the Federal Government and oil
companies and to improve governance and transparency in the
official oil sector. This underscores the
need to urgently pass a Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)
that addresses fiscal terms and the structure of
the NNPC. We therefore support the effort of
the Federal Government to pass a new PIB.
9.
The CBN will continue to use appropriate channels of communication
in these matters and hereby assures all
stakeholders in the country, of its continued support in all efforts
aimed at strengthening the Nigerian
economy and reducing its vulnerability to shocks
from the external sector.
10.
The Central Bank of Nigeria will not issue further statements on
this matter and urges the general public to
avoid unnecessary politicization of a technical matter while
awaiting the outcome of on-going consultation and reviews.
Ugochukwu
Okoroafor,
Director, Corporate Communications
Sahara
Reporters
No comments:
Post a Comment