Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has challenged the Presidency to provide a breakdown of Nigeria LNG Limited’s dividend payments into the Federation Account, insisting that a reconciliation exercise identified about ₦9tn outstanding to state and local governments.
Makinde, through his Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said on Sunday that the Presidency’s response to his allegation had failed to explain how the dividends were distributed among the three tiers of government.
Olanrewaju said the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, with the support of the Federal Government, engaged a consultant to reconcile the payments and that the exercise identified the alleged shortfall.
He added that the report was held by both the Federal Government and the NGF, expressing confidence that the Presidency would acknowledge its existence.
The governor’s aide questioned the distribution of the $21.5bn in dividends the Presidency said NLNG had paid into the Federation Account since its inception, including about $3bn received under the current administration.
“Have states and local governments received their shares? How much did they receive, and how were those amounts calculated? What happened to the $3bn received under this administration?” he asked.
The dispute followed Makinde’s remarks at the 2027 Budget Stakeholders’ Consultative Engagement in Ibadan on Friday, where he alleged that each state was due about ₦250bn but that payment had been deferred until after the 2027 elections.
The Presidency had dismissed the allegation as false. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that ₦250bn for each of the 36 states would amount to ₦9tn, excluding the Federal Government, the Federal Capital Territory and the 774 local government areas.
Onanuga said states receive 26.72 per cent of distributable revenue under the Federation Account Allocation Committee formula. He argued that for their combined share to reach ₦9tn, NLNG would have had to pay more than ₦33.68tn, or about $25bn, in a single dividend declaration.
“NLNG has never paid $25bn in dividends to the Federation Account in a single payout,” he said.
The Presidency stated that NLNG had paid approximately $21.5bn in dividends to the Federation over 25 years, with less than $3bn received since President Bola Tinubu took office.
It urged Nigerians to disregard Makinde’s claim, saying the figures were inconsistent with the company’s dividend history.
However, the Presidency’s response did not provide a transaction-by-transaction breakdown of the payments or detail how the proceeds had been allocated among the tiers of government.
Makinde’s aide maintained that the governor’s position was based on information and called on the Federal Government to address the distribution questions.
In July, NLNG Chief Executive Officer Adeleye Falade reportedly said the company had paid $47.2bn in dividends to all its shareholders, including the Federal Government, from revenue of $149.6bn since operations began.
The Federal Government holds a 49 per cent stake in NLNG.
Discussion0