THE House of Representatives has summoned the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Mele Kyari and subsidiaries of the company over the sum of N663.89 billion which the organisation failed to remit to the Federation Account in 2019.
The non-remittance of the amount was disclosed in the 2019 audit report.
The House Committee on Public Accounts issued the summons in a letter dated March 16, 2022.
The House, in the letter, directed Kyari to bring the heads and the accounting officers of 17 subsidiaries of the NNPC for questioning on various dates.
Chairman of the Committee Oluwole Oke explained that the summons was in line with powers conferred on the House by sections 85, 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Order XX Rule 6 of the House of Representatives Standing Order.
The committee asked the NNPC GMD and the heads of subsidiaries to provide copies of audited accounts from 2015 to 2021 in compliance with Financial Regulation No, 3210(v), and evidence of submission of copies to the Office of the Auditor-General Office for the Federation.
The NNPC and its subsidiaries are also to present to the committee evidence justifying non-cooperation in respect of constitutional checks conducted based on Section 85(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
The subsidiaries that were summoned to appear before the House on March 23 include the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited, Pipeline and Products Marketing Company Limited, Duke Oil Company Inc, West Africa Gas Limited and Nidas Marine Limited.
Hyson (Nigeria) Limited, Nigeria Gas Company, National Engineering and Technical Company, National Petroleum Exchange, NNPC Pensions Limited and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company are to appear on March 24.
Those to appear on March 25 are Port Harcourt Refining Company, the NNPC Retail Limited, Integrated Data Service Limited, National Petroleum Investment and Management Services and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.
The Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) had in the 2019 audit report, which was submitted to the National Assembly, asked the NNPC GMD to explain the company’s failure to remit N663.89 billion to the Federation Account.
The report discovered discrepancies between the amount reported by the NNPC as transfer to the Federation Account and what was reported by the AuGF.
The report noted that the NNPC’s upstream arm National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), claimed it transferred the sum of N1.27 trillion to the Federation Account.
But the audit revealed that the NNPC only remitted N608.71 billion in the 2019 financial year.
The report also revealed that the NNPC lifted 107 million barrels of crude oil but refused to provide information on the sale of un-utilised crude oil by refineries.
The audit report further observed that the NNPC did not provide information on crude oil allocations from May 30 to December 31, 2019.
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