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The Senate has called for sanction of officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) involved in illegal payment of fuel subsidy in 2017 worth N216.9 billion.
The upper legislative chamber observed that while there was no request for subsidy in the 2018 budget, the Corporation was still paying itself the amount under the guise of ‘operating cost’.
It also mandated the Corporation to stop the illegal payments without appropriation, even as it asked the state-owned oil firm to make a formal request to the National Assembly for appropriation for the payments.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee made the recommendations in its report on the investigation into the illegal subsidy payments, which was adopted by the Senate at Thursday plenary.
Presenting his report, Chairman of the committee, Matthew Urhoghide, revealed that the Federal Government spent N3.8 trillion on subsidy payment between 2010 and 2016.
The upper legislative chamber also asked its Committee on Appropriation as well as Public Accounts to liaise with the Executive to submit the appropriation for subsidy to be included in the 2018 budget still under consideration by the National Assembly.
Furthermore, it also mandated the Auditor General of the Federation to carry out an audit of NNPC’s account over the last five years.
Other recommendations of the panel adopted by the panel included the need for the Federal Government to pay oil marketers the outstanding subsidy arrears owed them prior to 2017 as well as giving local refineries maximum attention to enable them function in optimal capacity.
In their separate contributions, senators including George Akume, Chukwuka Utazi and Binta Garba Masi expressed concern about the recommendations of the committee, pointing out there was no serious sanction for those who approved the subsidy monies spent by the Corporation without recourse to the National Assembly.
Giving a breakdown of the N3.8 trillion subsidy payment, the panel observed that while the government spent N491 billion in 2010, it expended N245 billion in 2011 and N888 billion in 2012.
Others are N1.9 trillion in 2013 and 2014, N100 billion in 2015 while that of 2016 gulped N150 billion.
“In 2017, NNPC imported 9.8 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit at the cost of USD5,483,634,448.91 amounting to N1,672,508,506,917.55 at the exchange rate of N305. In the previous years, all importers including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had collected subsidy for differentials.
“It is therefore curious that NNPC will in Year 2017, describe the differentials as ‘operating cost’ and a loss but will not demand for refund,” the committee observed.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
