REVEALED! NNPC Bought $14 million Helicopter for the Presidency and gave informal loans.

NNPC Towers, Abuja. Centre for fraud?

As the results of an external audit on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) begin to filter into the media, it has been revealed that certain former administrations benefited unlawfully from funds owned by the Nigerian people and being held by the NNPC. Most shocking amongst these allegations is the fact that a purchase of a $ 14 million helicopter for the Presidency was financed by the organization.

According to news agency Reuters that broke the exclusive story, $106 million was loaned to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and $124 million was loaned to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

According to Reuters, “State governors are threatening to take the federal government to court over illegal tapping of oil revenues that should be shared with local government.

The finance ministry and NNPC declined to comment on the debts and the presidency and oil ministry did not respond to requests for reaction.

“We are aware of many of these debts, obviously it isn’t an ideal situation,” an NNPC source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

State agencies in debt to NNPC should be funded through the budget, so such loans add to transparency concerns.

The NNPC needs its own funds to pay for joint ventures with foreign oil companies, some of which have lain dormant due to a lack of state investment.

“It does highlight the extent to which NNPC has been drawn into the more opaque areas of government – and will give ammunition to those critics who say it has operated at least partly as a slush fund for government,” Antony Goldman, Nigeria oil expert at PM Consulting said.

“It points to the huge difficulties in making independent a corporation with such a complex web of assets and liabilities, at least some of which appear not to have been contracted solely on a commercial basis.”

Numerous earlier reports and audits have concluded that corruption has been rife within NNPC. Last year, Transparency International and Revenue Watch ranked NNPC as one of the least transparent oil companies in the world.

A parliamentary report in May uncovered a $6.8 billion fraud involving a government gasoline import subsidy, which is partly run by NNPC.

That report said NNPC was accountable to no one. It said the company owed oil traders, including privately-held Trafigura TRAFG.UL, $3.5 billion in unpaid bills.

Nigeria risks its 2 million barrel per day oil production declining in the next few years if it fails to reduce political uncertainty, corruption and criminality.