By Henry Umoru
ABUJA — The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has rejected the volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports reported by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for 2022 and 2023 over significant discrepancies with figures supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The committee, chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada Dankwambo, resolved on Wednesday to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to explain the discrepancies and reconcile the conflicting records.
The decision followed the NMDPRA’s response to queries raised against it in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.
Appearing before the committee, the NMDPRA’s Authority Chief Executive, Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, was represented by Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, who maintained that the authority’s records were credible despite the differences.
She told the committee that NMDPRA recorded 3.29 billion litres of PMS imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, compared with the 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres reported by NNPCL for the respective years.
“The slight disparities are being looked into for possible reconciliation,” she said.
However, Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, rejected the description of the differences as slight, noting that the figures showed substantial variations that required serious investigation.
“The disparities in records of PMS importation between NMDPRA and NNPCL in 2022 and 2023, as stated in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report of 2021 to 2023, are too wide to be described as slight or being looked into without the seriousness required,” he said.
Similarly, Senator Dayo Faduyile, representing Ondo South, said the discrepancies raised concerns about the reliability of the records submitted by the two agencies.
He said the differences left room for questions about what might have gone wrong in the reporting of petroleum imports.
Senator Anietan Bassey, representing Akwa Ibom North-East, called for a thorough investigation, insisting that Nigerians must not be shortchanged because of discrepancies in official records.
“Mr Chairman and very distinguished colleagues, these questionable records of volume of PMS importation by the two agencies must be thoroughly investigated to save Nigerians from being yearly shortchanged and expose those milking the country dry,” he said.
In his remarks, Dankwambo said the committee would convene a meeting involving the three agencies to establish the reasons for the conflicting figures.
“In view of the unacceptability of presentations made by the representative of NMDPRA on queries raised against it in the NEITI Oil and Gas Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023, specifically on volume of PMS imported within the years under review, this committee resolved to summon heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI for reasons behind the wide disparities,” he said.
The committee is expected to use the meeting to seek explanations for the discrepancies and determine whether the records can be reconciled.
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