The Senate has adopted a resolution to probe payments made as oil subsidy and under-recovery by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
It specifically frowned at the N9.3 trillion spent on subsidy from January 2021 to June 2023.
The probe followed the adoption of a motion by Sen. Patrick Chinwuba (APC-Imo) during plenary on Tuesday.
Moving the motion titled “Need to Investigate the Controversial Huge Expenditure on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) under the Subsidy/Under-Recovery Regime by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL),” Chinwuba said the Federal Government, on May 11, 2016, announced an increase in fuel pump price from N87 to between N135 and N145 per litre.
“This was in its fight against corruption and in order to plug the presumed highly proliferated leakages, wastages and slippages surrounding the fuel subsidy as well as in an attempt to end the controversial subsidy regime.
“At the inauguration of the present government on May 29, the President took a bold step to announce the total removal of fuel subsidy, noting that the scheme has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor,” he said, adding that the government’s interest in exiting the subsidy regime was in line with the policy of reducing cost of governance and the desire to eliminate corrupt practices surrounding the scheme.
“The NNPCL, within the period of subsidy exit attempt, substituted the term subsidy with under recovery without any recourse to the National Assembly or supervision by any other arm of the government.
“While NNPCL, within 10 years, 2006 and 2015, claimed about N170 billion as under-recovery, the same NNPCL, within 13 months, Jan. 2018 to Jan. 2019, claimed a whopping sum of N843.121 billion as under-recovery,” he said.
Chinwuba expressed worry that the uninvestigated and alarming cost of under-recovery/direct deductions by NNPCL without necessary checks had led to a great misunderstanding of the government’s good intention on subsidy removal.
Many of the Senators, who contributed to the debate on the motion, frowned at bogus expenses made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Sen. Jibrin Isa (APC-Kogi) said the utilisation of the savings arising from the removal of subsidy was very important.
“This is where our oversight function comes to play. These monies that are going to be recovered from the discontinuance of fuel subsidy should be used to revive some of the ailing companies in particular; the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, Itakpe Iron Ore Mining Company in Kogi and Oshogbo Iron and Steel Rolling Mills in Osun. Those projects can create a lot of employment opportunities, create a lot of revenue for the government,” he said.
The prayers were unanimously adopted by all Senators after a voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate resolved that its Standing Committees on Petroleum (Downstream), Petroleum (Upstream) and Finance, when constituted, should carry out a holistic investigation on all controversies surrounding subsidy and under-recovery regime.
It also urged the NNPCL, in conjunction with some major International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria, to form three different consortiums and build three refineries for stabilisation of the oil market and the nation’s economy generally.
