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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has asked the Federal Government to compel the Nigerian National Corporation to return unremitted funds between 2010 and 2014 and another N94tn held by oil operators.
Falana noted that the announcement by the NNPC that there was no money to remit into the federation account next month amounted to blackmailing the government into accepting deregulation policy of the downstream sector.
Falana spoke in Abuja on Thursday at a lecture delivered in honour of Prof Omotoye Olorode.
He stated, “The Auditor-General of the Federation has revealed that between 2010 and 2014, $16bn worth of crude oil was not accounted for by the NNPC.
Also, the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Commission and NEITI have come out to say that the NNPC has failed to remit to the federation account about $22bn dividends paid by the LNG.
“The NNPC has not, up to this moment, denied any of these serious allegations. So, if they say there is no money now, it is meant to blackmail Nigerians that the Corporation won’t remit money because it is paying for subsidy.
“Federal and state governments would then move to stop subsidy so they can have money to pay salaries, allowances and pension. But Nigerians must tell the government that there are alternative sources.
“We have written to the President about how government can recover N94trn. We are going to insist now that recovering this money is the way to go.”