As the curtains on the probe of the fuel subsidy management by the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee drop, the committee, has queried the? Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over allegations by the accountant-general of Liberia indicting the company with surplus supply of crude oil to Liberia in the excess of one million barrels.
The matter was raised by Hon James Faleke who said he was in receipt of a document that showed that Adax Petroleum was authorised by the NNPC to supply ten thousand barrels of crude oil to the Liberian government on behalf of the federal government but questionably supplied one million barrels of crude oil instead.
The document, he continued, also shows that the firm is yet to remit the excess money to the Nigerian government.
But the group managing director of NNPC, Mr. Austin Oniwon, who expressed shock at the revelation, adding that he does not have any idea of the said deal.
He was given a copy by the committee to study and asked to return with a response.
In a similar development, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and NNPC could not give the committee a definite pump price of kerosene.
According to NNPC, a litre is sold for N50, the PPMC said it goes for N95 while PPPRA argued that the price is N151 per litre.
Although the official price of kerosene is pegged at N50 per litre by the government, in some parts of the country, consumers pay as high as N150 per litre to buy kerosene product from independent marketers.
The committee therefore questioned the essence of the subsidy burden shouldered by the federal government if the benefits are not being enjoyed by Nigerians.
The qualification of the managing director of PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh came under fire as committee members questioned the rational behind the appointment of a lawyer to head PPMC in a country blessed with qualified experts in that field.
Meanwhile, the GMD of NNPC, Austin Oniwon has revealed that the sum of N377billion was yet to be paid for subsidy on petroleum and kerosene products between July 2009 and May 2011.
In a breakdown given by Oniwon, 11.26million litres of kerosene were supplied by NNPC in January 2011, 8.9million in February, 11.7million in March, 8.9million in April, 9.7million in May, 8.5million in June, 10.02million in July, 12.42million in August, 11million in September, 11million in October, 9.9million in November and 10.2 in December.
The minister of Justice and Attorney-general of the federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke who made an appearance before the committee denied an allegation by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that he denied a request for approval of a fiat to prosecute maritime offenders.
He also denied being in receipt of petitions, adding that he only had one petition written by Oando Oil which he had forwarded to investigating agencies as he doesn't have the powers to do that.
On his stand on the self approved deductions made by NNPC, he said, “I said when I came for ministerial screening in the Senate that all institutions of government must be regulated by the fiscal responsibility Act and I still stand by that”.
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