By G9ija
Abuja – The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee Investigating Revenue Leakages in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and other subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is currently beaming its searchlight on Duke Oil over non remittance of over N6 trillion (Six Trillion Naira) revenue.
Addressing members of the committee on Tuesday, the chairman, Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (PDP, Cross River), stated that the probe which will cover January, 2016 to 2017 is predicated on the apparent inability of DPR to enforce compliance of remittances into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
The committee also resolved to among other things ascertain the actual quantity of crude lifted by Duke Oil , number of Special Products such as fuel oil (LPFO), Naphtha, condensate, liquid natural gas, pentane plus, liquidfy petroleum gas LPG on which they are supposed to pay royalties.
Being a subsidiary of the NNPC, The committee will also look at the composition of the board of Duke Oil to ascertain who the directors are, why it was registered in Panama while it head office is in the United Kingdom, but does business in Nigeria, non payment of taxes to the federal government and why it has not published it audited Accounts since inception.
Jarigbe told the committee prior meetings between the panel leadership and DPR in the office of Speaker Yakubu Dogara revealed that the DPR has been helpless in ensuring that revenues are remitted into government coffers.
“The speaker asked pertinent questions regarding the payment of funds into the Consolidated Revenue Accounts, and while they assured that some of the funds had been remitted, a large portion of it is still out there.
“Mr Speaker also demanded the status of outstanding remittances as alleged by petitions that led to the impending investigation, and they said documents to that effect would be made available at the shortest possible time.
“We know royalties are supposed to be paid to DPR but from the information we have, some of these companies are not paying the required royalties and in this period of recession, we cannot allow some few cabals fleet away resources that are supposed to accrue to the consolidated revenue account of the federation”, Hon. Jarigbe vowed.
A member of the panel, Hon. Olyiwola Kazeem (APC, Ogun) also reminded the panel that issues of revenue leakages have continued to plague the oil sector, adding that “even now, the issue of Oil Mining Lease (OML) has arison where these wells are not relinquished as at when due into the pocket for further re-allocation”.
Hon. James Abiodun Faleke (APC, Lagos) an a member of the panel said: “If Duke Oil is responsible for lifting our crude, we need to know the volume of crude it has lifted, the meter used in calculating the volume, is it a special meter”?
“Without these, we cannot ascertain the volume of oil they lifted and they have to avail us this information to enable us establish the true position of things”, Faleke said.
Chairman Jarigbe added that the panel will leave no stone unturned as it would also scrutinise the stock profile of the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries with regards to the volume of products they come out with per day.
He said “while other companies take 32,000 barrels of crude per day, Duke Oil alone takes 90,000 barrels per day and uses other oil firms as third-party traders who pay into offshore accounts belonging to Duke Oil, whereas there are no evidence of them remmitting the said funds back to government coffers”.
“It is this leakage and the whereabouts of these missing funds that we want to unravel”, he said.
The committee chairman said letters are being dispatched to all affected organisations and industry stakeholders to forward relevant documents and memoranda to aid the investigation.