Daily Independent (Lagos)
Sule Lazarus
9 July 2009
Abuja — Federal lawmakers on Wednesday questioned 15 Managing Directors of oil companies on the alleged fraudulent diversion of products worth about N17 billion.
The 15 were the ones who showed up among the 30 invited by the House of Representatives Committee probing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), whose all former Group Managing Directors (GMDs) also shunned the invitation.
Committee Chairman, Igo Aguma, expressed the determination to recover the money, noting that Nigerian industries have suffered as products for domestic consumption were sold to international buyers.
On Wednesday, the Committee questioned MRS Oil and Gas on the rationale for selling over 900,000 tonnes of products obtained from the NNPC to the international market.
The Committee said MRS obtained the products between September 2002 and March 2003, and short-changed the treasury by N14 billion.
Umar Bature, a member of the committee, reiterated that "we are supposed to subsidise local consumption, we cannot afford to subsidise export."
However, MRS acting Managing Director, Amina Maina, said the company supplied the products - Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO), High Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO), AGO (diesel) PMS (petrol) and DPK (kerosine) - to Benue Cement, which has a 70 million-litre storage tank, United Nigeria Textile, and other local companies.
Another member of the Committee, Halims Agoda, noted that several foreign companies operating in the oil and gas sector are not registered in Nigeria.
Officials of two of such companies, Transfigura Beheer B.V and Vitol S.A, confirmed that they are not registered in the country despite having done business here for over a decade.
The Committee reiterated that 14 oil companies, including Transfigura, were indicted in a bill of lading scam sometime ago and there is need to investigate its activities more thoroughly.
But Reginald Stanley, Director of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), said the requirement of the NNPC at the time did not stipulate that foreign companies trading in Nigeria should be registered in the country.
Leo Ogor, who is also a member of the Committee, said the NNPC violated the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), stressing that the companies do not pay tax and therefore do not contribute to the economy.
The House equally debated the Bill to amend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act, which scaled Second Reading.
The legislators favour two terms of five years each for the INEC Chairman as well as full autonomy for the Commission, but kicked against the Presidency having to appoint the INEC Chairman, who should be a retired Judge appointed by an 'electoral college' of representatives of political parties.
They canvassed that for the INEC to be truly independent, it must be financially independent, so as to avoid compromise.
House Leader, Tunde Akogun, said the Bill seeks to increase the membership of the INEC, their tenure, as well as the transfer of some of its functions to new agencies.
"It proposes to have an INEC Chairman that will be non-partisan, with unquestionable integrity, and who possesses commensurate professional, administrative, and academic experience as well as severe punishment for any person convicted for an electoral offence," added.
While the majority of male lawmakers expressed support for the proposal to make a woman INEC Deputy Chairman, female lawmakers insisted that anyone with the right qualifications, male or female, should be appointed Chairman or Deputy.
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