Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has said it did not pay the sum of N20 billion to ghost consultants.
Some sections of the media, not Gatekeepers News had accused the management of the defunct Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) of sharing payments due to consultants.
In response to this, NNPC’s spokesperson, Garba Deen Muhammad in a statement on Monday, said the NNPC does not have or deal with ghost consultants.
Muhammad said the process of engaging consultants whenever the need arises is “clear and verifiable and follows global best practices.”
He said, “It is therefore unfortunate that for whatever reason, the said online platform would make such a grievous allegation, mindless of the consequences of such actions.
“The claim of a missing N20 billion is absolutely false and baseless.”
Muhammad also clarified allegations that the national oil firm was complicit in the theft of multi-billion naira tax due to the Ogun state government.
According to the spokesperson, “The second component of the said unfortunate report is related to Ogun state government claiming a back duty tax liability of about N18 billion, against an NNPC subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Ltd.
“For clarity, PPMC had objected and challenged the claim through its tax consultant.”
He said the Ogun state government took the matter to court “which is not unusual in business circles”.
Muhammad stressed that the matter is currently before the court, adding that NNPC will prove its case accordingly.
The Spokesperson said, “In conclusion, NNPC Ltd strongly advises the said online publication to be mindful of the consequences of its actions before taking them.
“For a matter that is already in court, as admitted by the online publication, it is sad that any medium can arrive at such sub judice conclusions as shown by the actions of the online medium.”
