By Chukwudi Obasi, Abuja
The Public Accounts Committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives yesterday constituted two subcommittees to ascertain the state of indebtedness of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and others in the Oil and Gas Industry to the Federation Account and analyze NUPRC Remitta records.
The two subcommittees will be headed by the Deputy Chairman, Hon. Jeremiah Umaru, and Hon. Olusola Fatoba.
The Committee, chaired by Representative Bamidele Salam, decided on the issue raised in the Auditor-General 2021 report on the consolidated financial Statement against the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulator Commission (NUPRC).
The report raised three queries against the commission.
The issues are; “Outstanding Royalties due from NNPC-COMF MCA/PSC totaling $253,952,693.07, Unjustified deductions from joint venture Royalty by NNPC before Remitting to DPR (now NUPRC) totaling $204,853,744,047.39.
Outstanding Royalties on Oil, Gas, concession Rentals, and Gas flared payable by operators to the federation Account totaling $2,260,448,992.45 and N48,216,163,192.67, among other things. “
Responding to the issue of outstanding royalties, the Chief Executive of NUPRC, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe said the exceptional revenue due from NNPC as of Dec. 31, 2021, has been paid $224.3m, leaving a balance of $29.6m that is still outstanding.
“NUPRC has sent a series of demand notices to the NNPC to clear the outstanding debt and even reported them to the Honourable Minister of Finance to intervene but to no avail.”
“The NUPRC has a revenue collection strategy which includes sanctions and invocation of fine and penalty sections of PIA 2021,” he stated.
While explaining the limitations of the NUPRC in applying necessary sanctions against the NNPC and other licensees in the oil and gas sector, the NUPRC Managing Director said the Agency was conscious of the volatility of the industry as well as Nigeria’s economic dependence on oil revenue to avoid anything that can cause untoward effects.
However, he assured the Committee that the Agency would always operate within the law and uphold the best corporate governance policies.
Members of the Committee demanded proof from the NUPRC that the various sums of monies alleged by the Auditor General of the Federation as uncollected revenue from the NNPC and major oil and gas operators have been recovered since the end of the 2021 financial year.
The Public Accounts Committee unanimously constituted the technical subcommittees to ascertain NNPC’s and others’ state of indebtedness in Oil and Gas and report back in two weeks for further action.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, assured all parties involved in hearings of the Committee’s fairness and openness in considering all queries by the Auditor General and other issues before it. The Chairman said that, as an investigative committee, it would not pronounce anyone guilty without providing ample opportunity for defence through an open hearing.
