The Senate, on Wednesday, indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for lack of transparency in crude oil lifted from its Escravos terminal to Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), as well as the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company.
The indictment was sequel to the 2016 Auditor General’s report submitted and presented by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Matthew Uhroghide, which was upheld by the Senate Chamber at Wednesday’s plenary session.
“From the review and examination of domestic Crude Oil Lifting sales profile presented for audit verification, it was noted that several deliveries were stated to be jointly lifted by or delivered to Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company without necessary details or breakdown of what was delivered to respective companies.
“From the examination carried out, a total oil lifting of 8,399,017 bbls with a total sales value of $376,655,589 (N102.6 billion) was stated to have been lifted jointly by these two companies.
“The failure to properly separate these deliveries and charge directly to each company makes it difficult to reconcile and account for each lifting”, the indictment report read in part.
The Auditor General’s report also said 92 MDAs were issued queries, 80 submitted written responses and appeared before the committee to defend queries, but did not appear before the committee, while four failed to either appear or submit written responses to the committee, despite several reminders.
Out of the 80 MDAs that appeared before the committee, 43 had their queries vacated, while the queries of 37 MDAs were sustained and recommendations accordingly presented to the Senate.
The Red Chamber, however, affirmed the indictment of 37 Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), for observing the breach financial procedure in the country.
While mandating the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, to ensure specific details of crude delivered to the two refineries for audit, the Senate also resolved to submit the report of the indictment to the Office of Secretary to the Government of Federation for further action.
Going forward, the Senate said it was considering a bill that will enforce the implementation of the outcome of the Auditor General report submitted to both chambers of Parliament for consideration.