NNPC denies holding $3.5bn subsidy fund

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has denied claims that it has in its custody 3.5 billion dollars Subsidy fund.

In a statement, the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, explained that during 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.

This prompted the corporation initiated the move to raise a revolving fund of 1.05 billion dollars, since the corporation was, and still the sole importer and supplier of white products in the country.

The fund had been domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria, and was not in the custody of the NNPC, the statement added.

Ughamadu explained that the fund, called the National Fuel Support Fund, had been jointly managed by the NNPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Other managers include: 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).

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 corporation was fully aware that it was only the National Assembly that has the statutory responsibility to appropriate on petroleum subsidy matters,” the statement read.