The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, remitted $2.7 billion into its accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between January and June this year, a document made available to newsmen at the weekend has revealed.
This disclosure counters CBN’s claim on Thursday that “zero-dollar remittance to the country’s foreign reserve by the NNPC,” precipitated the forex crisis in the country.
The document showed that out of the $2.7 billion, $645million was for dividends paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd and $1.786bn from NNPC’s operational activities.
A breakdown of the remittances indicates that the NNPC paid $18,770,418.97 in January into its accounts; $194,563,276.49 in February; $373,232,875.20 in March and $247,884,295.52 in April.
The company also paid $591, 565,425.41 into the accounts in May and $880,906,761.81 in June.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele had in 2018 blamed the forex crisis on the importation of items he said should have been manufactured in Nigeria, leading to the ban of Forex allocation for 41 items.
In 2021, he shifted the blame to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, who he accused of illegal forex trading.
Emefiele pointed fingers at “Aboki FX,” saying its activities were responsible for the naira depreciation, thereby cutting allocation to BDC.
This year, the CBN blamed the forex crisis on laundering and activities of politicians and terror sponsors.
Last Wednesday, the Senate decided to invite Emefiele to explain the depreciation of the local currency and to proffer the way forward.
The Senate also mandated its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions to critically look into the intervention funds CBN earmarked to support some sectors of the economy.
In his motion seeking Emefiele’s invitation, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi said the ban of forex sales to BDC operators by the apex bank caused a spike in the exchange rate.
