N5.1bn unremitted fund: Senate orders investigation of NNPC

The Senate has mandated its committee on petroleum (downstream) to exhaustively review and investigate the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over its accounts relating to fuel subsidy and the abuse of product marketing and distribution between 2006 and 2016.

The move is contained in the resolutions of the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday following concerns raised in a motion by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) on discrepancies in subsidy payment and non-remittance of funds by NNPC to the federation account.

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, urged the committee to get to the root of the matter directing that a thorough job be done at investigating the allegations.

Emphasising the importance of the investigation, Saraki said that the National Assembly cannot condone a situation whereby people continue to suffer others for their own selfish ends.

Senator Melaye had informed the senate that, despite the crackdown on corruption by the present government led by president Muhammadu Buhari, there has been continuous violation by the NNPC as regards non-remittance of proceeds from the sale of refined products into the federation account, likening the practice as being similar to the problems that sparked the national outrage against the last administration.

Melaye explained that although independent marketers account for 49 percent of imported petroleum products while NNPC accounts for 51 percent of imported products, this does not justify the huge amount it has been paid as subsidy in the last 10 years.

“We are concerned that from the records derived from the PPMC, between five and ten cargoes of imported crude arrive the country monthly, while about five cargoes are refined locally and each cargo contains 5.8 million litres of refined crude products, the excess products which cannot be dispensed that go into different tank farms owned by private individuals are not properly accounted for as they are illegally sold off by the owners of these tank farms in a manner that is opaque and usually designed to rip off the public and enrich a few persons stupendously at the expense of the masses,” he said.

Melaye noted that since this administration clamped down on subsidy payment, NNPC has solely been responsible for retail with companies like BOVAS and RANO paying between N20 and N25 per litre for the sales of the product which amounts to over N1billion monthly.

He alleged that the monies are not accounted for and that it might be the reason why Nigerians now see petro-dollars buried in caskets and uncompleted buildings in remote villages in some parts of the country.