House C’ttee Gives 72-hour Ultimatum to Eight Oil Companies Over N9.4trn Unremitted Royalties

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has given a 72-hour ultimatum to eight oil companies to appear before it and address allegations of N9.4 trillion unremitted royalties to the federation account.

The companies were among nine summoned by a sub-committee investigating the non-remittance of royalties as identified in a report by the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation.

The eight companies that failed to appear were Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Ltd, AITEO Group, All Grace Energy, Amalgamated Oil Company Nigeria Limited, Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited, Bilton Energy Limited, Britannia-U, and Waltersmith Petroman Limited.

Only Belema Oil Producing Ltd was represented by its Managing Director, Ahmad H. Sambk yesterday, and the committee, however asked them to return today, due to a late submission of documents.

The investigation, which was based on the report of Auditor General for the Federation (OAuGF) alleged that the amounts were unpaid royalties, concession rentals, and gas flare penalties and other obligations arising from production sharing contracts, repayment agreements, and modified carry arrangements.

The report stated: “The Oil Royalty amounting to US$1,742,280,008.32 (One billion, seven hundred and forty-two million, two hundred and eighty thousand, eight dollar, thirty two cent) remained unpaid by some oil companies as at the end of December, 2021.

“The sum of US$13,805,135.46 (Thirteen million, eight hundred and five thousand, one hundred and thirty-five dollar, forty six cent) for revenue relating to Royalty on Gas Sales (Foreign) still remain outstanding as at December, 2021, while the sum of 848,218,163,192.67(Forty eight billion, two hundred and eighteen million, one hundred and sixty three thousand, one hundred and ninety two naira, sixty seven kobo) was in arrear for Gas Royalty (Local) for the same period.

“Twenty-three operators also failed to pay the sum of US$496,674,967.77 (Four hundred and ninety-six million, six hundred and seventy-four thousand, nine hundred and sixty-seven dollar, seventy seven cent) being outstanding Federation Account revenue relating to Gas Flare Penalty, while the sum of US$7,688,880.90(Seven million six hundred and eighty eight thousand eight hundred and eighty thousand ninety cents).”

The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) represented by Balarabe Haruna, gave a breakdown of the various sums owed by the individual companies as contained in the Auditor General’s office report.

The Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Tunji Olawuyi, during his remark berated the companies for failure to appear before the Committee despite the invitation extended to them.

Olawuyi  said “The Committee in the exercise of its constitutional mandate wrote letters to the defaulting companies on the 28th of January 2025 to cause appearance on February 19th, 2025, but they all failed to honour the invitation.

“Also, this Committee made a publication in five daily newspapers that said all companies should appear today, March 3rd, to defeat their indebtedness to the Federation but they refused to honour. Only one company honours the invitation.

“Honourable colleagues, we will recall that two weeks ago, the two chambers of the National Assembly passed the N54.9 trillion 2025 Budget and this was signed into law few days ago by Mr. President. And these are the kind of monies that we are expecting to get to fund this budget. How do we find the budget of all these companies are refusing to pay as at when due.

“The Committee resolved to give the above mentioned companies 72 hours to cause appearance to defend their liabilities, otherwise, the Committee will have no option but to rule against them and direct them to settle their debt within seven days.”