Reps investigates N6trn, $5.5bn non-remittances by NPDC.

    The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources, Upstream, yesterday started investigative hearing into the alleged non-remittance of over N6 trillion annual payment and $5.5 billion into the Federation Account by Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC.
    Mr Yusuf Matachi, NPDC Managing Director, in his submission confirmed that the company was owing $1.7 billion, noting that it had signed agreement with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, on payment of $10 million on monthly basis. House of Representatives
Contrary to his presentation on the $10 million monthly repayment, the documents submitted by NPDC to the committee showed that: “DPR granted NPDC a payment of $50 million monthly payment in January 2017 to defray outstanding debt but the plan was not adhered to.” The document, however, stated that “in October 2017, NPDC applied to pay $10 million monthly to clear part of the outstanding debt and it was approved by DPR. However no payment has been made.”
   Represented by Folasade Odunuga, Matachi in his presentation, also confirmed that the company was owing $1.7 billion, and noted that the parties agreed that NPDC’s profits will be deducted from first line charge by DPR to avoid further accumulated debt. Earlier in his welcome address, Victor Nwokolo, chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), noted that the exercise was in tandem with the provisions of the 1999 constitution. He assured that the investigative hearing was not aimed at witch-hunting any organisation or individual. He also revealed that the first plank of the committee’s mandate was to “inquire into the alleged infraction in the operations and activities of NPDC.
‘’The second issue is to examine the persisting lack of capacity, leading to revenue losses to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Nwokolo  maintained that Nigeria “cannot afford losses in   any of our investments, whenever there are wastages and/or leakages, as representatives of the people, it is our duty to put an end to it.”
    Speaker  of the House, Yakubu Dogara, in his address, expressed support for Federal Government’s diversification policy into agriculture, licensed   exploration and manufacturing sectors, observing that oil remained the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy until such feat was achieved. The speaker, who   was represented by the Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyeama, harped on the need for Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to be accountable to Nigerians. He assured that “any proven infractions to structures and processing in the oil and gas sector would be tantamount to sabotaging the lifeline of the nation and will, therefore, be viewed with great concern.” He also noted that positive criticism of stakeholders present at the investigative public hearing to the ongoing public sector reforms would engender transparency and accountability in governance. In his intervention, Onyema, who expressed displeasure over the non-response of the Minister of State for Petroleum and NNPC Group Managing Director, urged the committee to activate relevant sections of the constitution to compel relevant players in the industry to attend the investigative public hearing.