The Senate has approved the recommendation by its Committee on Public Accounts on the investigation of all subsidy monies spent by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), without National Assembly’s appropriation..
Presenting the report at the plenary session of Thursday, 26 April 2018, the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Matthew Urhoghide (PDP:Edo) informed lawmakers that the Committee had adopted the following modalities aimed at aiding the Committee during conduct of the investigations:
- Identified key stakeholders and requested for oral and written submissions on the matter;
- Conducted an investigative hearing on the matter and requested for the attendance of all relevant stakeholders.
According to Sen. Urhoghide, the Committee had received submissions from NNPC, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN). Other stakeholders include; Total Nigeria Plc, Conoil Plc, 11 Plc (formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc), MRS Oil Nigeria, OVH Energy Marketing, etc.
Following the conduct of the investigative hearing, the Committee had among other observations, noted that NNPC was the sole importer of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and that all major oil marketers had stopped the importation of PMS as a result of the negative difference in landing cost and pump price of the product. It therefore recommended as follows:
- NNPC should halt all payments for subsidies without the approval of the National Assembly;
- The Federal Government pay all outstanding arrears of subsidy owed to Oil Marketers;
- The Federal Government should improve the capacity and functionality of local refineries.
Other recommendations adopted by the Senate but not included in the Committee report were that:
- The NNPC should refund the sum of N216billion spent illegally on subsidy payments.
- The Auditor General of the Federation commence a comprehensive audit of NNPC and recommend sanctions for officials responsible for the illegal payments.
Click here to view the full report of the Committee
