The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC Ltd) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) met on Thursday in Abuja to agree on the modalities towards realizing President Bola Tinubu’s recent directives on the management of crude oil sales revenue.
Recent reports said Tinubu had directed the CBN to take over the management of revenues realized from crude oil sales by the NNPC Ltd. to ensure transparency and accountability.
Under the new arrangement, NNPC Ltd. would transfer revenues realized from crude oil sales to the apex bank for vetting and documentation.
This is contrary to the practice over the years in which the NNPC Ltd. maintained sole control over crude oil sales, only rendering accounts of the revenues realized to the Federal Government at its discretion through submissions to the Federation Account.
Analysts say the new arrangement would bring to an end the era where there was always a gap between what the NNPCC Ltd. always declared as revenues from crude oil sales and what was remitted to the Federal Government through Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) after deductions for operational expenses.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, recently alluded to the benefits of the arrangement, saying the collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the NNPC Ltd. would ensure that all foreign exchange inflows to the country were returned to the CBN.
“This coordinated effort will greatly enhance the Bank’s foreign exchange flows and contribute to the accretion of reserves,” he said while delivering a keynote address at the launch of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) “2024 Macroeconomic Outlook Report.
At the end of a meeting in Abuja, the two organizations in a joint statement said discussions centred on how they would strengthen their relationships to guarantee seamless commercial operations.
NNPC Ltd’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi O. Soneye, and CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Hakama Sidi Ali, said the meeting was attended by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd., Mele Kyari, and the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso.
During the meeting, the statement said both reviewed the decision of the NNPC Ltd. to domicile a significant portion of its revenues and other banking services with the CBN.
At the end of the meeting on Thursday, the NNPC Ltd. and CBN noted the value created by the decision for all parties, especially in providing the NNPC Ltd. with an improved platform for managing its cash holding obligor limits in commercial banks set by its Board of Directors.
The CBN said the new arrangement has provided enhanced digital platforms for all transactions and established specific limits to manage NNPC Ltd. transactions.
Also, both parties restated their commitment to further strengthen their collaboration to ensure seamless operations of the commercial NNPC Ltd, while continuing to have banking transactions with commercial banks as required.
