Dogara flays alleged missing $40.266bn, N196bn oil revenue loss

*As Reps summons AG, CBN gov, others

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday described as unfortunate the report alleging that over $40.266 billion and N196 billion oil revenue was lost by the country as a result on non-remittance by some international oil companies over the past few years.

He gave the breakdown to include: non-remittance of over $4.4 billion involving the national oil conglomerate and some international oil companies (OICs) into the Federation Account and $12.9 billion revenue which accrued from Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) company collected by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) since 2009.

Others are $5.966 billion and N20.4 billion revenue allegedly lost in the offshore processing agreement, crude theft and the controversial crude oil swaps; N175.9 billion disparity lost during the subsidy claims in the NEITI report as well as the $17 billion stolen from undeclared crude oil and Liquified Natural Gas exports to global destinations.

The Speaker made the declaration at the opening of a four-day investigative hearing, on the $17 billion undeclared revenue being investigated by an adhoc committee with Abdulrazak Namdas. He therefore pledged the resolve of the House towards curbing corruption in the oil and gas sector in the country.

“As you are well aware, today’s public hearing is one in the series of investigative hearings by the House of Representatives on the looting of the nation’s wealth in the oil and gas industry, which runs into billions of dollars. The emphasis and the interest which the parliament has shown in investigating the sector is not a coincident but a deliberate effort to cleanse the industry of rot that has epitomised its existence over the years.

“The incidence of money missing in the industry has become a recurring decimal to the point that news items in the national dailies are incomplete without reports on one fraudulent activity or the other in the subsector, which incidentally is the mainstay of the economy.

“Hence, the reporting of the media on the ills of the industry clearly attests to the concern of Nigerians on the need to tackle the problem headlong.

“Repeatedly the nation has received disturbing audit reports of one of the nation’s gate-keeper in the Extractive industry against the national oil conglomerate and some international oil companies (OICs) where it was alleged that an amount totaling over $4.4 billion was trapped somewhere, instead of remitting them into the Federation Account,” Dogara noted.

Speaking earlier, Chairman of the ad-hoc Committee, Abdulrazak Namdas, investigating the $17 billion undeclared stolen crude oil and Liquified Natural Gas, issued a 24 hour ultimatum to the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, NNPC Group Managing Director, Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to appear before the Ad-hoc Committee.

Also expected to appear are: Directors of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Executive Secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Namdas accused government agencies of scuttling the investigation and frowned at the failure of Ministers, Executive Officers of various agencies and parastatals as well as Nigeria Navy to honour the Ad-hoc Committee’s earlier invitation.

“The government is fighting corruption. It’s very serious business. We have put it as part of our legislative agenda to actually support this government to fight corruption and we expect government agencies to also compliment by doing the needful.

“The government is in Abuja, it’s not in Lagos, the heads of agencies are in Abuja and this is a serious matter…we’re talking about $17 billion, stolen, diverted. And the people who are responsible for this, just to come and give clarification and they’re sending people here, we’re not going to take it,” Namdas vowed.

According to preliminary findings conducted by the adhoc committee, showed that over 57 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil were illegally exported and sold in the USA between January 2011 and December 2014.

“The estimated revenue loss by the government of Nigeria stands at over $12,722,600,327 at an exchange rate of N196/$1, this translates to over N2 trillion, you can imagine what the value is now.

“The corruption in the oil industry fundamentally distorts public policy, creates misappropriation and misapplication of resources, vitiates public sector and private sector development and over and above all, it undermines good governance and ultimately hurts the poor most,” Namdas stressed.