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PDP governments did not tamper with NLNG dividends, says Metuh

By The Guardian
13 July 2015   |   10:00 am
The People's Democratic Party, (PDP) has denied that its successive administrations tampered with the dividends paid to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) in the last 10 years. "The truth is that the NLNG had been on a 10-year tax haven until 2014. Within this period, successive governments, right from President…
Metuh

Metuh

The People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) has denied that its successive administrations tampered with the dividends paid to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) in the last 10 years.

“The truth is that the NLNG had been on a 10-year tax haven until 2014. Within this period, successive governments, right from President Olusegun Obasanjo, [the government] never shared nor tampered with the cumulative dividends over the years”, said Olisa Metuh, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary in statement on Sunday.

According to Metuh, NLNG dividends was paid directly to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and accounted for as part of legitimate government earnings.

“Whatever taxes paid from the NLNG go through the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and recorded as part of the income of the Federal Government.

“It is imperative to note that by the end of the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan, NLNG dividends had risen to a cumulative $5.6billion and not a single cent was ever taken from the funds,” he said

Metuh said it became imperative for PDP to correct the impressions created by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that PDP governments tampered with the funds remitted to the government by NLNG.

Metuh described APC’s allegations has false and cruel.

He said, “although it is within the rights of the APC administration to spend the funds in any way they may decide, it is however cruel for them to inflict on us all such malicious falsehood while the current Presidency without the benefit of economic advisers and relevant statutory organs of government, unilaterally decided to deplete the funds without thinking of the attendant future investments and financial obligations of Nigeria in the NLNG project.”

He called on the APC to stop spreading propaganda and lies and asked the party to face the challenges of leading the country, a task which, according to him, the APC has shown it was not prepared for.

2 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Where is the statement of LNG accounts. Had you given a copy to JODA’s transition Committee all the confusion would not have arisen.

    • Author’s gravatar

      You see everything boils down to the accounting publicity. If the administration has not touched the dividends from the NLG Investments the public would not have been aware. But that does not diminish Metuh’s contentions. What the saga of this specific transaction exposed is the maladjusted accounting, controls and our budgetary competency. The Government accounting has no symmetric mechanics hence the operators are constantly walking into constitutional violations very ignorantly. It is like the corporations declaring dividends, un-reporting same to share holders and turning back and using the monies for their operations. People , the rules are there, follow them. That’s Metuh’s argument, the GEJ’s team making the same mistakes at least in reporting notwithstanding. Metuh may have recognized that now looking from the outside and the administration, crying opposition politics. Settle the issue with institutional transparency in the National Ledgers!