Reps wants crude oil lifting contracts limited to quoted companies

By Ihesiulo Grace

17 July 2023

Politics

By Tom Okpe

The House of Representatives has taken steps to limit crude oil lifting contracts to companies quoted on the Nigerian Exchange Group.

Consequently, the House resolved to constitute an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate and identify Oil and Gas Companies favoured to lift Nigeria’s Crude Oil and put in place effective mechanisms to which companies will be quoted in the Nigeria Exchange Group, (NEG) and report back within four weeks.

This followed adoption of a motion moved Rep Ghali Mustapha Tijjani at plenary on Thursday, noting that the oil and gas sector is the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and its global prominence and contributions cannot be overemphasised.

He noted that the sector lacks effective governance and falls short of transparency and accountability, due to operations of briefcase companies which add no tangible value to our economy.

The lawmaker also noted that these briefcase companies are inexperienced, without required financial, commercial capacity and expertise in the crude oil business.

“Conscious that the widely publicised Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force found among other things, that Nigeria losses billions of Dollars monthly due to activities of briefcase companies that lift Nigeria’s crude oil.

“Cognizant that the facts have been corroborated by other credible bodies including the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives, (NEITI), Natural Resource Governance Institute, (NRGI) Chatham House Report of 2013, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, (CISLAC) and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, (SOMO).

“Observes that these companies and their collaborators have become resistant and adamant, and have continued to operate unabated to short-change Nigerians, despite many recommendations to do away with them.

“Concerned that only a negligible number of oil and gas companies registered with the Nigerian Exchange Group, despite the global prominence of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

“Envisaged that listing these companies on the Stock Exchange will curb the incessant revenue loss and will create capital availability to the economy. Furthermore, it will allow the regulatory authorities to have greater control over their activities,” he argued.

Meanwhile, the House agreed to investigate utilisation of ecological funds, released to the Great Green Wall by the International Organisations from 2015 to date.

It also resolved to set an Ad-hoc Committee to probe all federal allocations to the National Agency for the Great Green Wall, (NAGGW) as well as contracts awarded to various contractors for the project from 2015 to date.

The Committee is further mandated to investigate the total sum received through the policy and the level of compliance with the goals and objectives of the project and report back within four weeks for further Legislative action.

Moving the motion, Fuoh said: “The Great Green Wall Initiative for the Sahara and Sahel Programme was initiated and adopted by the Head of Governments and States of the African Union in 2005 to address the issues of desertification, land degradation, Bio-diversity loss, promote climate change resilience by ecosystems and communities and improve food security in about 21 countries of the Sahel region in Africa

“The National Agency for the Great Green Wall, (NAGGVW) is a Nigerian federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment, established to address land degradation and desertification and support communities to adapt to climate change in the Nigeria States of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa,Yobe and Zamfara.

“Concerned that from the findings, Š4 billion commitment was joint support from France, African Development Bank (AFDB), Global Environment Facility ($115, million), World Bank ($1.9 billion) and aid from some African Leaders, in 2015 during COP 21, the (AFDA) President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina revealed that the Bank has so far released $22 billion for the project and pledged to mobilize an additional $50 billion to provide clean energy for Africa including the Sahara-Sahel region.

“Also concerned that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (NNCCD) through Joint Support Commitment made available $8 billion to support all 20 African countries including the 11 primary nations and Nigeria’s 11 front-line states.”

For more news update follow us on www.dailytimesng.com