Today, the Senate held an investigative meeting over missing crude oil revenue.
In his opening remarks, Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman of the Senate committee on Finance, explained that the meeting was dedicated to the issue of unremitted revenue by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He recalled that the last hearing in December 2013 was suspended to allow the involved parties to reconcile the figures.
Two ministers [most likely, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Diezani Allison-Madueke] had the permission to be absent due to ill health. Nevertheles, the Committee expects them to appear next week.
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor, stated that the NNPC shipped $67 billion worth of crude oil, but what came to the CBN after all reconciliation stands at $47 billion.
“Let us know what happened to the remaining $20 billion,” he demanded. ”We have confirmed that the FIRS received $16 billion which was paid by IOCs. CBN has accepted that. We have accounted that out of $67 billion that NNPC shipped, $47 billion has come to CBN.
“NNPC must show where it got the authority to buy kerosene at N150 and sell at N40, and then put the burden of loss on the federation account,” Sanusi said.
Chairman Makarfi said the Committee wrote the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NNPC asking whether there were outstanding unremitted funds and demanding copies of the letters. The Committee also submitted letter to the Department of Petroleum Resources, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and to the Ministry of Petroleum resources.
The NNPC and NEITI have made submission that, however, the Committee found to be incomprehensive and subsequently asked to re-submit until February 14 and February 7 respectively. Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu noted that the figure has come down from $49.8billion to about $10.8 billion, but, nevertheless, should be accounted for.
The NNPC and Ministry of Petroleum were contacted last week, and said to have gone “very far” with the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on the reconciliation of the outstanding amount.
Mr. Okogu requested for one more week to sort out all outstanding figure, while Makarfi asked the PPRA to respond: “We want to know exactly what is going on at this point,” he said.
Senator Bukola Saraki observed that the whole process “does not instill confidence”: Mr. Sanusi wrote the alarmig letter in September 2013,so why the reconciliation had not start earlier? he asked, before adding, “It’s not the amount now, but the issue of process.”
The Federal Inland Revenue Service representative admitted that they had received “$16 billion” from the NNPC and remitted same.
Meeting has been adjourned to next Thursday.