Fakoyejo Olalekan
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has disclosed that its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, erroneously put the firm’s profit after tax for the 2021 financial year at N687 trillion.
Kyari, during an interview with Arise TV last week Thursday, stated that the NNPC generated N687 trillion as net profit while disclosing the firm has broken even.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“I am sure you are aware that this conpany has broken even. We have [been] doing very well,” Kyari said, adding, “We have a profit level of N687 trillion in fiscal 2021.”
However, NNPC spokesperson, Garba Muhammad, said it was a slip of the tongue, as NNPC has previously reported that the profit after tax was N687 billion.
On Thursday, 9 June, Muhammad wrote in a statement that: “On Thursday, 01/06/2023, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC Ltd, Mr. @MKKyari, OFR, appeared on Arise TV’s “The Morning Show”.
“Among the issues the GCEO discussed was the 2021 profit margin. Inadvertently, N687 trillion was mentioned as the company’s Profit after Tax figure as against N674 billion contained in the 2021 Annual Financial Statement.
“The accurate Profit after Tax figure for the Year 2021, N674 billion, was communicated to the public via our official Twitter account on 05/10/2022.”
Meanwhile, during the same interview, Kyari, said the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, the immediate past president, made provision for subsidy in the budget in 2022 and the first half of 2023 but didn’t provide money to subsidise during the period.
In 2022, N6.3 trillion was budgeted for fuel subsidy and N3.7 trillion in the first six months of this year, however, Buhari’s government didn’t release funds before handing over power to President Bola Tinubu on 29 May 2023.
“There was a provision of N6.3 trillion in 2022 and N3.7 trillion in 2023 for up to half a year, but I can tell you that not a single naira of that has been funded,” Kyari disclosed.
