Reps tackle NNPC again over alleged N142 billion unremitted IGR

Posted by admin House, Legislature Friday, May 24th, 2013

THE House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on Thursday, tackled the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over what it called deliberate action to delay its conclusion on investigation of the corporation’s refusal to remit about N142 billion to Federal Government’s coffer as its internally generated revenue (IGR).

According to the committee’s record, the corporation made about N6 trillion between 2009 and 2012 as IGR, but refused to remit N142 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007.

Chairman of the committee, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin, on seeing four senior officials of the corporation, led by the Group Executive Director (Finance), Mr Bernard Otti, said the NNPC was wasting the time of the committee in concluding its investigation.

According to him, “this exercise is not about the NNPC but the subsidiaries that are generating the revenue and have been making profit.

“Out of the 17 subsidiaries, it is only five that have not been making profit and we want to know how the profit of the others are being spent, since NNPC has been saying that it has never operated on surplus.

“Unfortunately, this delay is affecting the submission of the report of this investigation. We investigated 60 agencies and all of them have responded, it is only the NNPC that is delaying.”

He added that “it is the opinion of this committee that the wrong impression the NNPC is having is that they forgot that the committee is constitutionally empowered to request for documents to aid its investigation from any entity considered necessary.

“We can decide to request for information even from a unit within the NNPC and they must oblige as stipulated by the constitution.”

He equally noted that “Nigerians even need to know the workings of the NNPC and all we are doing is to see how we can assist the corporation in blocking all leakages, so that the revenue base of the government can be lifted.”

Mr Otti had earlier pleaded with the committee over the corporation’s delay in coming up with its presentation, saying that it was as a result of the absence of the officer in charge, whom he said had been out of the country for about a week.
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