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Kyari: No One Has Stolen 107 Million Barrels of Crude Oil

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The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari has dismissed recent media reports that about 107 million barrel of crude oil could not be accounted for in 2018.
The GMD did while addressing members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) at the resumed investigative hearing on the report of the Auditor General.
He said contrary to recent indictment of 17 subsidiaries of NNPC by the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAuGF) for financial infractions between 2014 and 2019, the NNPC has nothing to hide.
He, however pledged to take responsibility for the actions of the NNPC subsidiaries, even as he gave a firm assurance that the NNPC and its subsidiaries would appear before the committee next Tuesday to respond to the audit queries.

“You can’t declare something like that without it having effect and if we don’t respond to this, it will be obvious that it is what is happening in our country. Nobody has stolen 107 million barrels of crude oil. If for any reason, it was not well captured by the Auditor General, it is a different issue,” Kyari said.

He added: “First, let me clarify an issue. NNPC has nothing to hide. We have nothing to hide from Nigerians. In view of that, we have published the same audited account that you have for Nigerians to see, read and comment on.

“Those accounts are a complete reflection of all our transactions, including our subsidiary companies. So, we are hiding nothing from Nigerians. I agree with you that we can be more transparent. Can we do something different from this? Absolutely yes. Are we doing enough? Yes, we are doing more than enough.

“No national oil company in this world publishes its audited statement of account. There is no company that publishes its monthly report as we do.

“Therefore, I expect that you should congratulate us that we are doing more than expectations in terms of transparency and accountability. We owe this to Nigerians because it is their company and

we sincerely believe that this companies art owned by the over 200 million Nigerians, we are accountable to them and we must be transparent by every means possible.

“But as we do this, we must also recognise that we are running a business on their behalf and this business has rules and responsibilities and part of it is to have report of this nature which the Auditor General endorses by law for them to deliver on. But have it at the back of your mind that we have nothing to hide.”

Speaking further, he said: “Two weeks ago, it was in all the media that 107 million barrels of crude was stolen or diverted. You will not appreciate the evil of bad image this has created for our country.

“Our lending partners have called me that this is a wrong approach and that they will not lend to us without clarifying issues. Auditor General is here and we are in the same country. We are all serving this country.

“You can’t declare something like that without it having effect and if we don’t respond to this, it will be obvious that it is what is happening in our country. Nobody has stolen 107 million barrels of crude oil. If for any reason, it was not well captured by the Auditor General, it is a different issue,” Kyari added.

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