SaharaReporters obtained a text message sent to members of the committee stating that the meeting has been postponed due to the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay its monthly proceeds to the Nigerian treasury. The NNPC’s inability to remit funds means that the committee does not have enough funds to share among the three tiers of government.
A source from one of the southeast states disclosed that the postponement of the meeting as well as uncertainty over when the NNPC would remit funds to be shared “is causing alarm amongst committee members.” Asked if the NNPC’s action signaled that the Nigerian government might be broke, the source said, “I cannot say the government is broke, but recently committee did not meet as it should to discharge its revenue sharing duties.”
Another source suggested that the NNPC, which is the collector of the country’s oil earnings, might not have gathered enough funds for the current allocation period. “This could spell trouble in the coming months for the federal, state and local governments,” the source added.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration has been notorious for raiding the country’s treasury and embarking on reckless spending of Nigeria’s foreign reserves, a highly reliable source told Saharareporters.
The new date for the committee meeting is April 16, 2012. “We are hoping that the NNPC would have remitted sufficient funds by then,” said a committee member.
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