Beifoh Osewele

The Senate has directed the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to investigate the payment of $18,323,032,261.03 (over $18 billion) as dividend from Nigerian investment in the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) between 2004 and 2020.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) gave the directives following disclosures from NLNG officials during the five-day Senate Committees on Finance and National Planning consideration of the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

The Accountant General was mandated to investigate among other things if the amount was actually remitted to NNPC, how much was actually remitted to the Federation Account, if there is any deduction by NNPC, how much was deducted and who authorised the deductions and the exchange rates applied for the amount that was remitted over the years under consideration.

Mrs. Eyono Fatai-William, General Manager (External Relations and Sustainable Development) of NLNG has presented a financial summary of the  company from 1999-2019 indicating that it had paid a dividend of over $18 billion to Nigeria from 2004-2019 stressing that NLNG is committed to a culture of transparency and integrity.

The figures of dividend contained in her summary  are: 2004 ($278,860,715.00);2005, ($57,425460.17); 2006 ($332,979,540.83); 2007 ($842,956,858.80);2008 ($2,613,170,000.00); 2009 ($848,680,000.00); 2010 ($1,401,400,000.00); 2011 ($2,509,780,000.00); 2012 ($2,768,990.00); 2013 ($1,260,704,340.00);  2014 ($1,389,908,436.93); 2015, ($1,043,764,965.12); 2016, ($356,126,898.440, 2017, ($798,140,840.45); 2018, ($904,498,502.96) and  2019($915,645,702.33).

When Senator Adeola inquired from the Accountant General of the Federation if he could confirm the payment of the humongous dividends to the Federation Account, he said it was difficult to determine with any certainty immediately as the dividend was usually paid to NNPC who were the representative of Nigeria in the company.

The chairman, therefore, directed the Accountant General to investigate the payment and report back to the Senate in two weeks.

Nigeria through NNPC have about 53 per cent shareholding in Nigeria LNG Limited.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has defended the 6.1 per cent contraction recorded by the Nigerian economy in the second quarter of the year (for Q2 2020) saying it was better better than the projected forecast of -7.24 per cent estimated by the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS).

It added that the result which covers April to June) was also relatively far better than many other countries recorded during the same quarter.

This was made known by the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicy, Mr. Femi Adesina in a statement titled “Our response to quarter  2, 2020 NBS figures”, yesterday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had published on Monday, the 2nd Quarter (Q2) 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates, which measures economic growth.

The Presidency statement read: “Nigeria’s (GDP) declined by –6.10% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, ending the 3-year trend of low but consistently improving positive real growth rates recorded since the 2016/17 recession. Consequently, for the first half of 2020, real GDP declined by –2.18% year-on-year, compared with 2.11% recorded in the first half of 2019.

“The overall decline of -6.1% (for Q2 2020) and -2.18 per cent (for H1 2020) was better than the projected forecast of -7.24% as estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics. The figure was also relatively far better than many other countries recorded during the same quarter.

“Furthermore, despite the observed contraction in economic activity during the quarter, it outperformed projections by most domestic and international analysts. It also appears muted compared to the outcomes in several other countries, including large economies such as the US (-33%), UK (-20%), France (-14%), Germany (-10%), Italy (-12.4%), Canada (-12.0%), Israel (-29%), Japan (-8%), South Africa (projection -20% to -50%), with the notable exception of only China (+3%).”

He said government’s anticipation of the impending economic slowdown and the various initiatives introduced as early responses to cushion the economic and social effects of the pandemic, through the Economic Sustainability Programme (ESP), contributed immensely to dampening the severity of the pandemic on growth.