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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has commenced the payment of dividends into the federation account as stipulated in the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021.
The national oil company remitted to the government's coffers the sum of ₦123bn being deductions of interim dividend and PSC profit oil and part of the ₦907bn shared by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the three tiers of government on Thursday, July 20, 2023.
This development comes barely two months after President Bola Tinubu freed the NNPCL from the burden of fuel subsidy payment that had crippled its ability to remit its proceeds to the government account.
The NNCPL Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, had said on May 30, 2023, that the federal government had a debt obligation of ₦2.8 trillion to the oil company as fuel subsidy repayment.
While praising Tinubu's decision to remove the subsidy, the GCEO emphasised that the subsidy burden had become unsustainable, hindering the NNPCL's ability to allocate funds for its primary operations.
NNPCL remits oil proceeds to federation account
Meanwhile, the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, who chaired the FAAC distribution meeting on Thursday, confirmed the remittance from the national oil company.
A breakdown of the ₦123bn showed that the NNPCL paid ₦81bn as a monthly interim dividend and ₦42bn as 40 per cent PSC profit oil.
This is in addition to compliance on payment of royalties and taxes.
During the FAAC meeting held in Abuja, ₦907.054bn total distributable revenue was shared to the three tiers of government.
This comprised distributable statutory revenue of ₦301.501bn, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of ₦273.225bn, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of ₦11.436bn and Exchange Difference revenue of ₦320.892bn.
In June 2023, the total deductions for the cost of collection was ₦73.235bn, while the total deductions for savings, transfers, and refunds were ₦979.078bn.
The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was $473,754.57.