House Probe: Fresh fraud uncovered in subsidy payments

Fresh massive fraud in the subsidy payments on fuel and kerosene was, Thursday,  unearthed in the on-going investigation on fuel subsidy regime.
This is coming as the Attorney General to the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adokie testified that his office was not aware of the fuel subsidy payment as it ought to be guided by law.
On the illegal transactions of Sahara Oil, the Minister said the matter has been reported to the security agencies for proper investigation.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Group Managing Director, GMD, Mr Austen Oniwon, and the Executive Secretary of Petroleum, Pricing, Products, Regulatory, Agency, PPPRA and others failed to provide reason on why kerosene is sold at N130 against the subsidised price of N50.
The major agencies operating in the sector had different conflicting prices of kerosene, the GMD had said the subsidised price was N40.90k and the retail price in NNPC filling stations was N50.
The Managing Director of Pipeline Products Marketing Company, PPMC, Mr Haruna Momoh said the retail price of kerosene was between N75 in Lagos and N80 in other places or N90 at the most.
The Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr. Stanley Reginald however had a contrary figure when he told the Committee that the retail price of kerosene was N130 per litre in most filling stations across the country.
Reginald had argued that the non-subsidized price of kerosene is N151 and the subsidized retail price from the original price of the subsidized price of N40.90k.
The Managing Director of Directorate of Petroleum Resources DPR, Mr. Osten Olorunsola also said, the retail price is between N75 and N130 “but the average price is within the region of N130.”
The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. John Otunla was taken to task as to what exact role he plays in the payment of subsidy, he told the members that he does not play any specific role “because the figures are already subjected to audit.”
“If the need arises that there are discrepancies all we need do is find the sources of differences and amend them because accounting could be very dynamic.”
The Accounting firm of NNPC, Olusola Adekanla and Co, represented by Kehinde Oyeleke could not give the volume of petroleum products imported from Cotonou offshore by the national corporation.
The adhoc committee had asked the NNPC GMD why he flagrantly went ahead to supply kerosene without a written instruction from the presidency when there was actually a suspension on kerosene subsidy.
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