The Senate has described as illegal, then the Federal Government’s introduction of N26per litre for subsidising the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
Consequently, the upper chamber announced that it would begin an open investigation to expose the roles played by every officer of government on the matter.
Disclosing this to newsmen on Friday in Abuja, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Kabir Marafa, said there was never a time that any request was brought to the National Assembly for approval in respect of the re-introduction of subsidy.
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He noted that the constitution is very categorical about the fact that no money could be spent without approval by the National Assembly.
According to him, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mainkanti Baru, had already been invited to answer questions on the subsidy matter.
Baru had last week announced that petrol was being subsidised to the tune of N26 per litre because the landing cost of petrol is N171 per litre.
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According to him, subsidising the product is the only thing that could allow its cost to remain at the official pump price of N145 per litre.
The NNPC boss had also explained that the consumption of PMS had risen to over 50 million litres per day, due to hoarding and diversion.
Disclosing that the product was being smuggled across the borders because of the price disparity that exists between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries, Baru said the Cost, Insurance and Freight price of PMS is $620 per metric tonne, adding that at N305 to a dollar, the landing cost translates to N171 per litre.
But Marafa insisted that the panel would go to any length in stopping the new subsidy.
The lawmaker expressed regret that the Muhammadu Buhari administration which came in to fight corruption in the oil industry had soiled its hands in shady deals.
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“This happened in the past and we fought against it. Why is it still happening now? We will look at the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSDP) system introduced by this government in place of the swap system of the last administration. The crisis associated with the sourcing of FOREX by marketers will also be looked into during the open investigation.
“The Senate believes that there is complacency by some people who should carry out some responsibilities. Hoarding would not have taken place if some of those officials did what they should do. There are sharp practices in the sector that must be stopped. We don’t want to go back to the subsidy regime again because it had made the nation to lose some N10 trillion in the past” Marafa said.
When reminded that the Senate is used to issuing empty threats to the Executive arm of government over national issues, Marafa said the Senate would not play a rubber stamp role to the Presidency on the subsidy matter.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
