The House of Representatives today inaugurated an Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate alleged under-remittance of revenue by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Account.
The 12-member committee, which is headed by Hon. Chukwuma Onyema, is mandated to ascertain the volume of the nation’s oil production as against the projected volume in the budget, the exchange rate being used for crude oil sales and cash flow from January to July 2018, among other issues.
The inauguration of the committee was sequel to the unanimous adoption of a motion under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’ earlier moved by Hon. Nicholas Ossai, during the plenary.
Ossai, while moving the motion said that funds that accrued to the federation was usually shared between the Local, State and Federal Governments, pointing out that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) monthly meeting did not hold in June due to alleged corporation’s under-remittance of N20 billion to the account.
Ossai said that it was not the first time the corporation was being accused of under-remitting revenue accurately to the account, especially now that crude oil prices have been increasing at the international oil market.
The lawmaker posited that the situation could not be blamed on lack of funds, but purely on some people in the state-owned oil entity not to do things rightly.
In his contribution, Rep. Dennis Agbo alleged that the revenue was being appropriated by the NNPC by paying subsidy without appropriation as the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, was higher than its pump price.
He accused the corporation exhibiting some arrogance as if it is greater than government, saying that the National Assembly must put the necessary pressure on the entity to do the right thing.
While urging other lawmakers to support the motion, he also challenged states to look inward to generate funds to pay salaries.
Also, Hon. Sergius Ogun, advised that the House should expand the scope of the investigation, describing the corporation as the “fat cow of the nation.”
In his contribution to the motion, Hon. Shehu Shagari, pointed out that he had seen several motions on the corporation tabled on the floor of the House over the years but despite the fact that so many things were discovered in the operations of the corporation and reports submitted to the effect nothing happened.
He said: “We must be prepared, the chairman and indeed the members of the committee, should watch themselves closely, because NNPC will come after you one-by-one and thereafter you will start talking from both sides of your mouth. If you are not ready, stay away from the committee.”
Another lawmaker, Nkem Abonta, said that the House must do the needful to ensure proper management of the NNPC, adding that even when indices showed that the country is out of recession, the impact of growth cannot be felt by the people.
Abonta, who noted that the corporation’s problems had persisted for too long even before the National Assembly, said that the country cannot afford the NNPC to be continued to be managed wrongly.
After the elaborate deliberations, the House unanimously supported the motion when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.
Subsequently, the Speaker constituted the committee and announced the membership.
