The Senate has directed the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, to probe the payment of $18.3 billion as a dividend in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) between 2004 and 2019.
The NLNG told a Senate panel on Wednesday that it had paid the amount to the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
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The General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development of NLNG, Mrs. Eyono Fatai-William, said this while presenting a financial summary from 1999 – 2019 to the Senate Committees on Finance and National Planning.
She said NLNG also remitted $9bn in tax from 2011 to date, while $15bn was remitted for flared gas to NNPC since its inception.
However, Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Lagos), asked the Accountant General of the Federation to investigate the details of the remittance and report back to the Senate in two weeks.
Adeola said the investigation would give the true situation of the federal government’s investment in NLNG.
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, among others.
Nigeria, through NNPC, has about 53% shareholding in Nigeria LNG Limited.
