States and local governments in the country have demanded their shares in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC.
Their position was contained in the communique issued, at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, Post-Mortem retreat which ended, yesterday, in Asaba, Delta State.
According to the Communique, “The shareholding of NNPC Limited should reflect the vertical allocation formula for the Federal, State and Local Governments.
“NNPC Limited should not charge additional fees for lifting and selling royalty and tax oil on behalf of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
“The RMAFC should look into the charge of 10 percent as management fees and another 30 percent Frontier Exploration Fund before remitting profit oil and gas into the Federation Account.
“Any unutilised money from the operations of NUPRC or any additional agency should be paid into the Federation Account at the end of the year contrary to the provisions of section 47 (4) of the PIA and in accordance with section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“It also called for streamlining the regulatory roles of the NUPRC and NMDPRA to remove any envisaged duplication of functions to ensure smooth operation of the sector.
“It was agreed that RMAFC should ensure that all unpaid royalties after 30 days from the due date are debt on the NUPRC and must be paid with interest at CBN prevailing rate.”
FAAC is comprised of the representatives of the federal, state and local governments like the minister and commissioner of finance; revenue generating agencies like NNPC, NUPRC, FIRS etc, and revenue monitoring bodies like the RMAFC.
According to the communiqué, “RMAFC should ensure that all unpaid royalties after 30 days from the due date are debt on the NUPRC and must be paid with interest at CBN prevailing rate.
“Royalties unpaid after 30 days from the due date will be considered a debt to the commission (NUPRC) and subject to interest at prevailing CBN rate.”
that the on-going amendment to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) should be concluded to allow the devolution of powers to States.
“Some items under the Exclusive List such as issuance of mining licences and streamline some other items under the Concurrent List such as provision of education, power, roads and environment,” it was agreed should be looked into.