Senate summons NMDPRA, NNPCL, NEITI over discrepancies in petrol import records

Senate machinery in motion to invite the heads of the three regulatory agencies in oil sector over discrepancies in their petrol import records between 2021 and 2023. The agencies include the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe North), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, said the resolution on Tuesday after the NMDPRA appeared before the panel to respond to queries raised in NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report.

He said the heads of the three agencies would be required to explain the discrepancies and work towards reconciling the records. The discrepancies came to light during a legislative hearing on queries raised in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report (2021–2023). Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, the NMDPRA Chief Executive, represented by Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe at the hearing, insisted that the agency’s records remained credible despite contradicting the records of NNPCL.

“We stand at 3.29 billion litres of PMS as the volume imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, against 6.27 billion litres recorded by NNPCL in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023. The slight disparities are being looked into for possible reconciliation,” he said.

Umar’s defence drew further condemnation from committee members. Abdul Ningi  said the disparities in PMS import records of NMDPRA and NNPCL in 2022 and 2023 were too wide to be described as slight. Dayo Faduyile (Ondo South) said the wild swing in numbers left a lot of room for someone to overlook.

Anietan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North East) called for a full-scale probe to protect public funds. Dankwambo, ruling on the matter, rejected the defence of the NMDPRA and ordered a tripartite meeting involving all key stakeholders.

“In view of the unacceptability of presentations made by the representative of NMDPRA on queries raised against it in the NEITI Oil and Gas Audit report. This committee resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL, and NEITI to explain the reasons behind these wide disparities,” Dankwambo said. The date for the tripartite hearing has not been fixed.