Dan Atori, Minna
Governor Babangida Muazu Aliyu of Niger State, on Tuesday, supported his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to say that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owes the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) the sum of N2.3 trillion.
He said: “They (NNPC) are de-servicing the nation; they owe Nigerians a lot of money because they only declare what they want.”
Aliyu said when the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) led by its Chairman, Dakuku Peterside, paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Minna that “any person in NNPC, who says he is not aware of these things that are going on, is doing de-service to the nation”.
“I am happy that you have NNPC with you here (Minna), I saw in National dailies (Newspapers) they said they do not owe FAAC N2.3 trillion, they do, they owe Nigerians a lot of money because they only declare what they want to declare to us. Nobody in Nigeria knows how much petrol is produced.
“Recently, there was even an account and they are saying that we don’t own the account and I asked who went to open the account? This question is for oversight function for these House of Representative members to answer.
“If today Saudi Arabia can decide the quantity of oil they want to produce, and Nigeria can not, it means that those who are actually benefitting are the ones making it difficult for us to know.
“So, for any person in NNPC who said he is not aware of these things going on, he is doing de-service to the nation; and we have talked about reforming that place (NNPC), dismantling that place, but nobody seems to want to do it because even government, before coming in during campaign said they will reform but when they came in and saw the benefits, they didn’t reform.
“Unless you reform something that is bad, it will become ‘badder’ (worse) if there is a word like that. This is where oversight function will come to play and talk about that. In Nigeria, the refineries can not produce enough that is required; we still have to import.
“If you look at our budget, there was never a year we have implemented fifty percent of the budget. And you don’t see the amount of the carry-over, so what happened to the amount? I leave it to the oversight function of the House”.
Speaking on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Aliyu said: “We should be careful on how we frame issues, we have already discussed about the PIB. We have gone to public hearing, we have given the points and we need to look at it. I don’t know what is delaying it at the National Assembly, but we had gotten over it. Some of the things we need to correct we have corrected and investors are still weary because of the situation of PIB.
“Truly, a country that produces oil must not only enjoy the presence of oil, but must also benefit the raw pricing of oil. When we discovered that pricing of the enjoyment of the common people becomes a corrupt thing, then we must look at other options to make sure that these things really get to the people.”
While speaking to journalists on the N2.3 trillion saga between NNPC and FAAC, Peterside said there were three committees set up to oversight the activities of NNPC.
He said: “What we are talking about is the remittance from NNPC to the Federation Account. These issues have been raised as I am talking to you now. We are investigating NNPC also on a particular sum of N450 billion that was not remitted to the Federation account. One thing is that we don’t sweep it under the carpet; the interests of the Nigerian people are at stake, and we cannot sweep it under the carpet.”
Peterside said that there is a general improvement in terms of distribution of petroleum products and there is a big room for improvement because the task force is working on it.
