Senate Calls NMDPRA, NNPC, NEITI to Explain Fuel Import Record Differences

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has decided to call the leaders of some oil sector organizations to explain differences in the records of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports into Nigeria between 2021 and 2023.

The organizations involved are the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The committee chair, Ibrahim Dankwambo, shared this decision on Tuesday after NMDPRA came before the panel to address questions raised in NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report for the period.

Mr Dankwambo, who is from Gombe North Senatorial District, said the heads of these three agencies must explain the differences and work on reconciling the conflicting numbers.

The senator, who was once the Accountant-General of the Federation, showed his dissatisfaction with the large gaps between the PMS import figures provided by NMDPRA and those recorded by NNPCL for the years 2022 and 2023.

Rabiu Umar, the CEO of NMDPRA, was represented at the meeting by Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, a director in the agency. Ms Ugwu-Ojobe informed the lawmakers that the authority recorded 3.29 billion litres of PMS imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023. These numbers were quite different from NNPCL’s figures of 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres for the same years.

She insisted that the NMDPRA’s numbers were accurate despite the differences. “We stand by 3.29 billion litres of PMS as volume imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres as volume imported in 2023 against 6.27 billion litres recorded by NNPCL in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023,” she said.

But her explanation did not convince the committee members, who questioned how two government agencies could have such different records of fuel imports.

Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) rejected the idea that the discrepancies were minor. He argued that the differences were too significant and needed a thorough probe.

“The disparities in records of PMS importation between NMDPRA and NNPCL in 2022 and 2023, as stated in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report of 2021 to 2023, are too wide to be described as slight or being looked into without the seriousness required,” Mr Ningi said.

Another member of the committee, Francis Faduyile (APC, Ondo South), said the conflicting figures raised questions about the accuracy of the agencies’ records. Mr Faduyile, who is a professor of medicine, said it showed that more clarification was needed to confirm the reliability of the figures.

Anietan Bassey (APC, Akwa Ibom North-east) also called for a thorough investigation to find out the reasons for the differences and to identify those responsible if any wrongdoing was found.

“These questionable records of volume of PMS importation by the two agencies must be thoroughly investigated to save Nigerians from being yearly shortchanged and expose those milking the country dry,” Mr Bassey said.

After the discussions, the committee turned down the NMDPRA’s explanation and decided to summon the heads of the three agencies for a joint meeting.

“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 covering 2021 to 2023, specifically on the volume of PMS imported within the years under review, this committee resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI for reasons behind the wide disparities,” Mr Dankwambo said.

The planned meeting aims to clarify the conflicting records and find out if the differences are due to varying reporting methods or other issues needing further investigation.

The committee’s decision comes amid worries about the reliability of official records on petroleum imports and the need to improve accountability in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.