House Committee Investigates Alleged Financial Mismanagement in NNPC Subsidiaries

House Committee Investigates Alleged Financial Mismanagement in NNPC Subsidiaries

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The House of Representatives has restated its resolve to investigate alleged financial mismanagement in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and 17 other subsidiary agencies.

The House Committee on Public Accounts has vowed to invoke relevant sections of the Constitution to compel the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari and heads of 17 subsidiary agencies to respond to various audit queries bothering on deliberate and reckless refusal to render accounts from 2014 to 2018 in breach of extant financial regulations.

The committee at the weekend said, “NNPC allegedly directed all the heads of the 17 subsidiaries invited to the public hearing not to honour the invitation sent by the House Committee on Public Accounts, in breach of extant legislations and provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.”

In a letter with Reference No: HR/PAC/SCO5/9NASS/PARA.5/001 dated 20th December, 2019, addressed to the NNPC Group Managing Director, the House had during its plenary session of Tuesday, December 10, 2019 mandated the Committee to conduct an in-depth investigative hearing on the deliberate and reckless refusal of non-Treasury funded agencies of government to be audited by the oAuGF for the period under review, with the view to ensuring compliance with the provisions of Sections 80, 81, 85, 88 and 89 of the 1999 as well as Sections 15, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 25 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

In its second letter dated December 24, 2019 with Ref. No: HR/PAC/SCOS/9NASS/PARA.5/064 signed by its Chairman, Hon. Wole Oke and separately addressed to the NNPC Group Managing Director, and heads of various subsidiary agencies, requested for copies of approved budget – both appropriation and internally generated revenue between 2014 and 2018; audited account and management account; budget performance report; evidence of remittance of audited accounts to the Auditor-General of the Federation; evidence of remittance of internally generated revenue and or operating surplus to Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account to the Committee ahead of the public hearing.

The affected agencies include: Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited; Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company; Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited; Duke Oil Company Inc.; West Africa Gas Limited; Nidas Marine Limited; Hyson (Nigeria) Limited and Nigerian Gas Company.

Others are: National Engineering and Technical Company; National Petroleum Exchange; NNPC Pension Limited; Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company; Port Harcourt Refining Company; NNPC Retail Limited; Integrated Data SERVICE Limited; National Petroleum Investment & Management Services (NAPIMS) and Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).However, in its third letter with Reference No: HR/PAC/SCOS/HR.252/12/2019/001, dated 10th January, 2020 and addressed separately to the NNPC Group Managing Director and heads of the 17 subsidiaries, were invited to appear Committee on Thursday, 30th January, 2020 at 10:00am.

But in its response to the Committee’s invitation to the investigative public hearing, PPMC through a letter Reference No: PPMC/HQ/MD/11.01 dated 24th January, 2020 and signed by Mohammed Umar, noted that: “The letter from NNPC Corporate headquarters on subject stipulating that NNPC headquarters and all subsidiaries of NNPC including PPMC have a consolidated Group Audited Accounts that is centrally submitted to the Auditor General for the Federation in line with NNPC Act.”

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