The Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulation Agency (PPPRA) may have put on hold payments of all outstanding monies and subsidies it owe some oil majors and importers of petroleum products as it sets to review claims of unpaid subsidies by these companies.
This is not unconnected with the Agency being put on the spotlight by several accusations and counter claims at the ongoing probe of the petroleum subsidy regime by the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee led by Farouk Lawan.
PPPRA and some of the oil companies are at loss of how much is truly involved as regards subsidies in the past one year.? Many of the oil companies and importers claimed that PPPRA still owes them subsidy monies and unaccounted fines that run into billions.
For instance, the Managing Director of Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Francious Bussagol could not defend subsidy payments made to his organization by PPPRA last year. Bussagol was asked to explain the discrepancies in the subsidy amount he claimed his company collected in 2011 and what was paid to Total Nigeria Plc.
He told the committee that his company was paid N16.18bn as subsidy for the 211million litres of fuel supplied, but the record from PPPRA and the Accountant General of the federation indicated that the company was paid N18.8bn.
More so, the French oil major, had also expressed disappointment over the instance by PPPRA that N54.5 million should be refunded to PPPRA by Total even after the issue of N672 million subsidy overpayment was long before now was resolved by both parties.
According to the oil company only N230 million was the money that was paid to Total as cost due to exchange rate fluctuation. Bussagol said they had written to PPPRA to explain on the issue of the N54.5 million refunds Total had made to PPPRA.
Though the House committee had advised PPPRA to verify these claims and many others and pay immediately all authentic ones.
However, sources from PPPRA said the agency is not in a hurry to verify these claims very soon and may not make any payment soon as advised by the House committee even after about N888.2 billion had been provided for subsidy in this year 2012.