Idris Ahmed told FAAC members that “the NNPC at the point of lifting crude oil barrels confirmed that, the liftings were the option considered by it to start off-settling the $1.74 billion owed by NPDC.”
After the presentation of the report, FAAC members particularly the state governments expressed worry over NNPC’s handling of the repayment of the NPDC debt.
According Idris Ahmed while presenting the report, “the sub-Committee was worried that the option of using 100,000 barrels of crude oil lifting per month would take up to 20 years to settle the NPDC debt. There were still outstanding Royalty and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) that NPDC was yet to settle with DPR and FIRS respectively. NNPC should come up with concrete and more acceptable option of settling the NPDC debt.”
It was gathered that, a representative of NNPC (name not disclosed) assured FAAC of the Corporation’s commitment to liquidate the lingering debt.
“The NNPC representative explained that, the cargoes lifting option was a measure to ensure that funds were made available to the federation account from outstanding debt, pending the drawn- down from the facility being arranged by the corporation to offset the debt”, the report said.
The Representative was said to have further assured that “the corporation was borrowing the funds from the international financial markets to repay the debt citing strict conditions attached by the Lenders as a major challenge for not repaying the debt on time.” (The Nation)
