Following
their “unconvincing” response at the initial stage of inquiry, the House
of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee which is probing the N17 billion
missing crude oil and gas revenues said it’s ready to re-invite key
agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to a resumed public hearing.
About 76 organisations, including International Oil Companies have pending queries relating to oil export between 2011 and 2014.
Chairman of
the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, told THISDAY that about 50
oil companies had so far provided unsatisfactory answers to the issues raised while others had shunned the hearing – pleading prejudice – which the committee had repeatedly overruled.
He said a
review of the response level of invited agencies and IOCs had been
questionable and require that they showed up again at the hearing-
unfailingly to give evidence on the issue as it relates to them.
According to the response report, the DPR has been requested return
back to the hearing alongside it’s Director General and Operational
Manager while the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) is also expected to
return with Managing Director or top management officials to provide
concrete response to issues raised.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which had earlier turned up at earlier sittings, albeit late, has been excused but re-invited to make submissions on what it knew about the missing products.
Namdas further told THISDAY that affected agencies and oil companies have not addressed the issues under investigation or at “best, tried to confuse the committee by supplying the wrong documents.”
But he said
the committee already had full details of the controversial
transactions, but was only giving the firms a fair hearing by demanding
that they state their own part of the story for confirmation.
According to
him: “The investigation is ongoing. We are giving them another
opportunity to respond before we write our full report. For instance, we
have written to the DPR and many of them to revert to us within one
week. So, the summary is that they have questions to answer and they
have not answered them satisfactorily.”
Specifically, agencies which had not yet honoured the committee invitations include NIMASA,
NCS, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Molecular Power Systems Limited,
according to the report obtained by THISDAY.
Others are
Shell Western Supply and Trading; AITEO Energy Resources Limited; AITEO
Eastern Exploration and Production Limited; Star Deep Water Petroleum
Limited; Total Upstream Production Limited; Petrobras; Trafigura;
SNEPCO; Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy; Consolidated Oil Limited,
Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited; and Duke Oil Company Limited.
The continued refusal of the invitees to turn up could force the committee into wield the big stick in the coming days.