Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has said the payment of an interim dividend of N123 billion to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for the month of June is a sign of profitability.
According to the organisation’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr Umar Ajiya, the move was to consolidate its post-Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 status as an income generating company.
FAAC had last Thursday shared N907 billion among the three tiers of government.
From the money shared, NNPCL contributed N81 billion as a monthly interim dividend and N42 billion as 40 per cent oil Production Sharing Contract (PSC) profit, totalling N123 billion.
Mr Ajiya said, “This payment is in addition to compliance on payment of royalties and taxes.”
According to Mr Ajiya, the latest development was a departure from previous years of sleaze and wastages.
He said, “This will set the track for future profitability and global best practices designed to build NNPC Limited into a world class oil company in the ranks of Saudi Aramco, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., and others.
“The goal of Malam Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GECO), NNPCL, is to set the nation’s oil company on the path of profitability and sustainable growth.
“Since the transformation of the NNPC from a loss-making organisation pre-PIA to a robust profit-making company post-PIA, the company under Kyari has pursued global governance best practices aimed at repositioning the company for greater growth.
“The payment to FAAC clearly shows that the company under the leadership of Kyari is moving in a positive trajectory as enshrined in the PIA.”
The N907.054 billion shared by FAAC comprised distributable statutory revenue of N301.501 billion and Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N273.225 billion.
The revenue shared also comprised Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N11.436 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N320.892 billion.
The total deductions in June for cost of collection was N73.235 billion and total deductions for savings, transfers and refunds was N979.078 billion noting that the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was $473,754.57 million.
