Tribune Reps probe NNPC over N634bn kerosene subsidy Written by Jacob Segun Olatunji And Klawole Danel-Abuja Thursday, 28 November 2013 00:00 The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, mandated its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to investigate the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) over alleged expenditure of N634 billion kerosene subsidy in the last three years and report back within four weeks. The resolution of the House was sequel to a motion moved by Honourable Adeyinka Ajayi entitled: “Urgent need to investigate the expenditure and subsidy of kerosene” in which he expressed concern that in spite of the subsidy on kerosene, consumers were not getting the product at the regulated price of N50.00. According to him, “Kkerosene, which is supposedly sold to marketers at N40.90, hardly gets to the consumers at the regulated price as it is only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retail outlets that sell the product at N50 per litre while major and independent marketers retail the product at between N130-N135 per litre.” The lawmaker added that,”there is alleged racketeering going on at the NNPC where allegations are rife that kerosene is purchased from the depot by dealers at between N65 and N75 per litre which in turn makes it commercially impossible to resell to Nigerians at the recommended retail price of N50.” He equally recalled that, “recently, the chairman, Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) stated that the country had spent over 634billion naira on subsidising kerosene in the last three years (2010, 2011 and 2012) at the sums of N110billion, N320billion and N200billion respectively for those years.” Speaking further, he said that, “the Minister of Finance recently appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriation where she reportedly denied paying any subsidy on kerosene in the last two years,” stressing that, “there were conflicting claims by the Minister of Finance and the NNPC on the source of money through which kerosene is subsidised and the amount involved therein as the Office of the Minister of Finance was said neither to have been aware of nor had it authorised any such payment.” To this end, Honourable Adeyinka maintained that, “an investigation into these issues will promote transparency and accountability and may result in a process which will ensure that the product which is supplied for consumption locally by the NNPC is delivered to the masses of Nigeria at the stipulated price, thereby reducing the use of non-eco-friendly alternative sources of energy such as firewood, sawdust and charcoal.” Honourables Forte Dike, Ahmed Baba Kaita and Raphael Igbokwe among others spoke in support of the motion with the argument that a lot of inconsistencies in the information provided by different stakeholders could only be addressed through the investigation. When the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, who presided over the session, put the question, the majority of the lawmakers supported it.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 09:42:27 +0000
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