Alleged Missing $100b Oil, $20b Royalty Proceeds: Reps Talk Tough, Vow To Probe Industry Players, Others

By Adamu Abuh, Abuja

The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream, Mr. Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, has given the assurance that the committee would ensure the recovery of alleged missing $100 billion oil revenue proceeds.

Speaking while inaugurating the committee at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, he disclosed that his committee would also investigate the alleged non-remittance of about $20 billion dollars in royalty to the Federation Account by the relevant oil and gas sector players in the country.

Ugochinyere said the committee would live up to its responsibility in legislating for energy security, professionalism in the petroleum sector, economic transformation, accountability and institutional reforms in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

He further expressed the committee’s readiness to probe the abuse of the petroleum subsidy regime, which was meant to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians but failed to achieve the intended purpose.

“Let me also urge the various stakeholders in the petroleum sector to cooperate with our Committee in the discharge of our functions and be open to positive changes where necessary.

“We are not going to victimise anybody; we won’t witchhunt anyone but we will certainly do our work with a deep sense of service to the nation,” he noted.

He said the resolve of the House to receive the report of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Oil and Gas Sector Report for 2021, in line with section 4(3) of the NEITI Act, 2007 spoke volume of the commitment of the committee to tackle the decay plaguing the sector.

He said Committee’s jurisdiction covers oversight of Petroleum Refineries, oversight of Petroleum Products Marketing Petrochemicals, oversight of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Matters relating to the Downstream Petroleum Sector and oversight of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (now known as Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd) Downstream activities generally.

It includes oversight of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund; oversight of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA); examining and scrutinising, in conference with relevant Committee(s), the annual budget estimates of the NNPC and its subsidiaries and all oil related companies and presenting same to the House for consideration and approval.

(Guardian, excluding headline)