The Dakuku Peterside-led House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) is currently probing kerosene subsidy which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) claims it spent over 80 per cent of the $10.8billion (about N1.728trillion) unremitted oil revenue to finance.
Committee members from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the committee chairman, Peterside (Rivers/APC) for demanding that the DG Budget should clarify the legality of NNPC’s deduction of kerosene subsidy payments at source before remittance to the nation’s Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA).
Hons Sunday Karimi (Kogi/PDP) and Ralph Nnanna Igbokwe (Imo/PDP) accused Peterside of pursuing a “private enterprise” in his line of questioning.
“If your ruling is biased, we will challenge the ruling. This is not a private enterprise. Let the NNPC answer questions relating to its operation. You cannot hold the DG Budget responsible for the NNPC operation,” Igbokwe shouted at Peterside in protest.
“DG, do you have the competence and authority to speak for the NNPC or CBN?” Karimi asked the DG Budget.
The DG Budget then said he did not have such authority.
Hon Bala Yusuf (Kaduna/APC) countered: “Let us not downplay the significance of this gathering by arguing along party lines because this is an issue of serious national importance”.
The committee chairman, Hon Dakuku Peterside at this point appealed for calm. “From time to time, we have our misunderstandings. We are before the public; let us respect ourselves as gentlemen,” Peterside said.
Meanwhile, the DG, Budget Office told the House Committee that the Budget Office did not make any appropriation for kerosene subsidy since 2010.
In respect of NNPC diverting oil revenue to fund kerosene subsidy, the committee accused NNPC of flouting Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on remittances to the Country’s Consolidated Revenue Account.
The DG Budget attempted to defend NNPC’s actions. “If they (NNPC) buy (kerosene) from the international market at let’s say $1 per litre and they sell less than half of a dollar, they must pay for the shortfall due to the subsidised nature of the product. So, it only makes business sense if they source money elsewhere to pay for such amount that must have been cut down from the cost which the consumers must have borne,” he said.
The investigative hearing continues April 8 and 9.
In another development, the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Jibrin Usman yesterday assured of his preparedness to smash oil theft and illegalities in the nation’s maritime sector.
Jibrin gave the assurance while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after paying a courtesy visit to the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola.
He said, “Apart from oil theft and illicit bunkering, we are equally looking at illegal fishing, poaching, sea robbery and the likes.What we have decided to do is to establish the areas that are notorious for these criminal activities.
“Instead of wasting time to pursue shadows, we have decided to change our strategies for doing these jobs. I think we have the wherewithal to combat these crimes. We have the right platforms, ships, boats and the maritime helicopters.” We are also conscious of the fact that there are competing needs of Nigerians which the federal government may not be able to meet at the same time.
“Fighting oil theft is a mandate giving to me in particular. I am mandated to check the illegalities in the maritime sector. First, we will not fight this war on the pages of newspapers again. We want to see the result of what we are doing by assessing the amount of money that is now accruing to the Federal Government for national development.
“It is when the Federal Government is saying yes that we can now see the positive effects of our action. It is then we can say we are achieving the desired result. With that, all I intend to do is to properly deploy our boats and vessels to areas we will establish as sore points and make sure that all would-be culprits, suspects or persons involved in criminalities are properly and brought to justice.”
He pointed out that the Gulf of Guinea is notorious for criminality, saying the Nigeria Navy has established maritime awareness capabilities with all the concerned nations.
According to him, “The maritime crimes have been going on in the Gulf of Guinea. The countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea are all concerned with the effects the crimes have on their development. We have established with the countries, regional maritime awareness capability.
“We have certain equipment for surveillance, enabling us to monitor the movement of ships. We monitor all the ships that operate there with AIS. We monitor them and all their activities at seas. When their activities tend to be inimical to maritime security, we deploy accordingly to check.”
Source: Leadership
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