Reps Probe PPPRA Over Non –remittance Of N501m To Federation Account

The House of Representatives, Committee on Finance is currently investigating the failure of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, to reveal details of Nigeria’s daily fuel consumption and also account for debts it is owed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Peter Joshua, in charge of the agency’s Finance and Accounts department, had told the committee that N2.835 billion was realised by the agency in 2014 after deducting 15 kobo for every litre of fuel sold across the country.

Explaining further, he said N708.940 million was to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, but N207.726 million was paid into the government’s account in 2014, while the balance of N501.214 million is yet to be paid after six years.

The Consolidated Revenue Fund, CRF, is an account that is owned and managed by the Federal Government, where all its revenues are paid.

Nigeria’s financial regulations require every government agency to remit 25 per cent of their internally generated revenue or 80 per cent of their operating surplus to the CRF, report says.

Joshua also outlined the cardinal sources of revenue generated at the PPPRA, which he stated it was generated from 15 kobo on every litre of petroleum product delivered and consumed in the country, sales of unserviceable assets, registration of contractors and rent from office space.

When questioned about Nigeria’s specific daily petroleum consumption, he could not provide the exact figures.

“The average daily consumption has changed but I am not in a position to state the exact figure for daily consumption of petrol in the country,” he said.

However, he estimated that Nigeria consumes between 35 to 40 million litres of fuel on a daily basis. In his defence, he asserted that his office was not privileged to that information because NNPC is in charge of fuel importation into the country.

After deliberations by the House Committee on Finance, the management of the PPPRA was requested to present themselves before the committee to prove their case to avoid being indicted for lying to Nigerians, about monies meant to be remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund account.

James Faleke, Chairman of the Committee, ordered the agency to supply the committee the actual figure of daily consumption of fuel from 2011 to 2019, adding that the report of the Accountant General of the Federation about the remittances from the agency was poor.

He also asked them to supply to the committee, bank statements, payment receipt, the amount owed it by the NNPC and other agencies, contract awarded and names of companies benefiting from such contracts, the annual budget of the agency amongst others.