Again, Senate uncovers N10trn fraud, fingers NNPC, independent marketers

THE Senate Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas have uncovered an alleged fraud running to N10 trillion in the petroleum industry.

The committees, which jointly addressed newsmen at the weekend, said the alleged fraud was carried out by officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPMAN) and other stakeholders in the petroleum industry between 2006 and 2016.

The committee chairmen, who spoke through the chairman, Senate  Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa, said besides the loss of about N5.2 trillion to NNPC over subsidy claims, the corporation had also been unable to account for the 445,000 crude oil allocation to it for local consumption over the years.

Besides Marafa, other committee chairmen in attendance included the chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alasoadura and his counterpart on Gas, Senator Bassey Akpan.

Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Senator Dino Melaye, had, last week, equally raised a motion to alert the Senate of an alleged  N5.1 trillion fraud said to be associated with NNPC’s subsidy claims from 2006 to 2016.

Senator Marafa said: “NNPC being the custodian of crude oil resources of the nation,  responsible for 51 per cent of petroleum products importation into the country over the years aside the 445,000 crude oil allocation it gives itself on yearly basis for local  refining, must account for the N5.2 trillion it spent on subsidy on its own 51 per cent of petroleum products importation between 2006 and 2016 aside the N3.8 trillion spent on similar subsidy for Independent marketers and about $1.5 billion yet to be accounted for by other key players in the industry.”

However, out of the N10 trillion alleged scam, the NNPC is to account for N5.2 trillion collected as subsidy from the Federal Government for importation of petroleum products, particularly  Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, between 2006 and 2016 aside the  445,000 barrels of crude oil  allocated to it on yearly basis for local consumption.

The committee said records in its possession indicated that the NNPC, during the period under investigation, imported more than 40 per cent of the fuel required for local consumption apart from gross underutilisation of the 445,000 barrels it collected for local refining on yearly basis.

Senator Marafa said  the Joint Committee on Petroleum and Gas had been mandated to unearth the bonafide end-users, establish the globally recognised large volume product trading companies, independent product blenders, terminal and tank farm operators, ships tracking agencies, inspection companies, product trading brokers, shipping companies and ships brokers and leading providers of global background, investigative services, among others.

He said the committee had scheduled a three-day investigative hearing, which would feature past and present chief executives of NNPC, their counterparts from the independent marketers, licence inspection agency, Nigeria Ports Authority, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Customs and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

He said  the committee would also employ the services of the whistle-blower policy to unravel the fraudulent and corrupt practices in the oil industry.

The joint committee chairman also said the committee had secured the support from President Muhammadu Buhari and the Senate leadership in their resolve to carry out thorough investigation of the alleged fraud, which he said, was big enough to finance the country’s budget for two consecutive years.

Senator Mafara said the committee had also discovered another dimension of fraud in the industry through disappearance of PMS from storages leased by NNPC without any accountability and/or return of the value of the stolen product.

He said 100 million litres of petrol worth N14 billion was stolen by two different companies without any sanction against them from the NNPC.

Marafa stated: “This committee has established the disappearance of 100 million litres of PMS from such storage arrangement. We expected NNPC to have taken action against the two companies that carried out the theft but since it has not, we hereby order it to do so immediately, precisely within this week, failure of which we shall make the whole details known to the public.”

He said: “President Buhari is highly supportive of this move by the Senate and we shall not fail in carrying out the needed holistic investigation on obvious sharp practices in the sector. Needed documents for the onerous task are already in our possession.”

The lawmaker warned that sanctions awaited players in the sector who might want to frustrate the probe exercise by deliberately refusing to honour invitation sent to them or concealing the needed information.