IT was another day of revelations, on Wednesday, at the ongoing House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the actual subsidy on fuel and on how the nation's oil sector was being managed in flagrant disobedience of the laws of the land.
At Wednesday’s hearing, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) admitted paying itself fuel subsidy due to it at the source.
This is coming just as the corporation also admitted that it was still transacting business with a major oil marketer who defrauded it to the tune of several millions of naira even after the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
However, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Austin Oniwon, who made the admission said that he had not broken any rule in deducting subsidy money from source, saying that such deductions were carried out after verification and due approval by both the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Mr Oniwon, who promised to provide the committee with the details of the major oil marketer which defrauded the corporation, as well as the amounts involved in the fraud today (Thursday), explained that the corporation had fully recovered the amount involved spread over about 24 months, following the intervention of the EFCC. He said the corporation was still transacting business with the affected company based on legal and business considerations.
However, the chairman of the ad hoc committee, Honourable Farouk Lawan, frowned on the submissions of the NNPC boss, saying that his actions were illegal, especially on the deduction of fuel subsidy money at source since it was not approved by the National Assembly, saying that Nigerians were being short-changed by these unauthorised deductions.
According to Honourable Lawan, the National Assembly only made provisions for N245 billion for fuel subsidy in the 2011 budget and that before October last year, over N600 billion excess had been deducted by the corporation at source, saying that such deductions were not legally provided for.
On the indebtedness of the NNPC to the Nigeria Customs Service to the tune of over N46 billion, Mr Oniwon agreed that the corporation actually owed the service, saying that the modalities for the payments would be worked out once they agreed and reconciled and that the NNPC would report back to the House on the payments.
Shedding light on the importation of crude oil into the country, the NNPC boss confirmed the development but explained that the importation was only meant for the Kaduna refinery for the production of lubricants as, according to him, "our crude oil is sweet light crude and is not suitable for production of lubricants and that is why we have swapped our crude with Venezuela crude, because the Kaduna refinery has two sections."
However, there was a drama during the presentation of the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr Reginald Stanley, over the figures of the daily consumption of petroleum products in the country compared with the figures presented by the same Agency in October last year before the House committee probing the N450 billion allegedly owed the Federation Accounts by the NNPC.
Stanley had put the figures of the nation's daily consumption of petrol at 33.5 million litres per day in 2008, while previous figures given by the agency in October last year were 30.8 million litres per day; 2010, 46.95 milllion litres as against 43.17 million litres per day and 2011, 58.9 million as against 40.5 million litres during the same period.
Hardly had the PPPRA boss finished his presentation, when a member of the committee, raised the alarm over the conflicting figures presented by the agency amounting to 18.38 million litres per day and insisted that the agency should tell the panel the authentic figures.
However, Stanley said that he would only defend the figures he presented before the panel, as he had not been appointed as of October last year and admitted that there were errors in the presentations, saying that this would be corrected as time went on.
The committee frowned on the conflicting figures of the daily consumption of petrol by Nigerians as presented to the committee by both PPPRA and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, while the minister said it was 35 million litres per day, the PPPRA boss put it at 59 million litres per day with a difference of 24 million litres.
The committee lamented that apart from giving room for smuggling and diversion, Nigerians had been paying for 24 millions litres per day which they never consumed.
Consequently, the committee directed the PPPRA boss to forward to the committee the details of contracts awarded since 2006 till date, the criteria used, the profiles of companies involved and the names of PPPRA officials connected with the processing and payment for such contracts.
Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved the hiring of consultants by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to audit the oil and gas industry, as well as solid minerals sector.
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