By Adedayo Akinwale
The House of Representatives has ordered an investigation into the allocation of 5.2 million barrels of crude oil to comatose refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme from 2018 till date.
The House ordered for the investigation following the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance that was moved yesterday by Hon. Abubakar Yalleman, at the plenary.
Yalleman said the contents of a report published in THISDAY Newspaper on February 14, 2021, brought to national attention the unfortunate details of how Nigeria’s crude oil was being stolen or diverted daily.
He said that approximately 5.2 million barrels of crude oil supposedly allocated to comatose refineries of NNPC in 2018 under DSDP operations are unaccounted for.
He also stressed that almost half of the 10.9 million barrels of crude oil allocated for domestic supply between June 2018 and July 2019 as reported by the NNPC was either stolen or diverted.
Yelleman explained that the average price for Nigerian crude oil in 2018 was $65, which means that the unaccounted volume may have denied the country $339 million at a time of acute revenue deficit.
The House said it would like to find out the status of the 5.2 million barrels allocated for domestic supply in 2018 till date.
It demanded “that the committee on Petroleum (Down Stream) should investigate allocation of crude oil under the DSDP scheme from 2018 till date.
“Investigate crude oil allocation per refineries and the rationale for such allocation. What happens to unutilised stock of crude oil in the case of a refinery with inadequate production capacity?”
The House also expressed worry about the spate of missing critical national revenue, observing that unless these leakages are plugged, they would deepen the national deficit and deprive the country of much-needed development.
