From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has rejected the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s (NMDPRA) records of petrol imports for 2022 and 2023, citing sharp discrepancies with figures presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
This is just as it resolved to summon the heads of both agencies and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for explanations.
The committee said the conflicting figures raised serious questions that required urgent reconciliation and investigation to establish the actual volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imported during the period and determine whether any wrongdoing occurred.
It explained that the discrepancies emerged during its consideration of queries against the NMDPRA in NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.
NMDPRA, through its Deputy Director, Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, who represented its Authority Chief Executive, Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, had maintained that its records were credible despite the differences with the NNPCL’s figures.
She told the committee that the authority recorded 3.29 billion litres of petrol imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, compared with the NNPCL’s figures of 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres for the respective years.
“We stand by 3.29 billion litres of PMS as volume imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres as volume imported in 2023 against 6.27 billion litres recorded by NNPCL in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023.
“The slight disparities are being looked into for possible reconciliation,” she said.
But the explanation failed to convince members of the committee, who questioned how discrepancies of such magnitude could be described as slight, particularly given the implications for transparency and accountability in the petroleum sector.
Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, said the differences were too substantial to be dismissed as minor variations requiring routine reconciliation.
“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, Francis Faduyile, representing Ondo South, said the conflicting records raised troubling questions that the committee could not ignore.
According to him, the discrepancies left considerable room for suspicion that something was wrong with the figures submitted by the two agencies.
In his comments, Anietan Bassey called for a thorough investigation, insisting that Nigerians must not continue to bear the consequences of possible irregularities in the management and reporting of petroleum imports.
“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.
Following the objections, the committee, chaired by Hassan Dankwabo, rejected NMDPRA’s defence and resolved to convene a meeting involving the leadership of the NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI.
Dankwabo said the agencies would be required to explain the discrepancies in their respective records of petrol imports during the period under review.
“In view of the unacceptability of presentations made by 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.
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