Senate Summons Agency Chiefs As NMDPRA, NNPC Give Different Petrol Import Figures

The Senate has rejected petrol import figures presented by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) after discovering major differences between its records and those of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts described the conflicting figures for 2022 and 2023 as unacceptable and suspicious, resolving to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for explanations.

Naija News reports that the decision followed a hearing on issues raised in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.

During the hearing, Deputy Director of NMDPRA, Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, who spoke on behalf of the Authority Chief Executive, defended the agency’s records.

She said Nigeria imported 3.29 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023.

However, NNPC’s records showed that 6.27 billion litres were imported in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023.

Ugwu-Ojobe described the differences as slight, adding that efforts were ongoing to reconcile the figures.

Her explanation did not convince members of the committee, who questioned how the agencies could report such different volumes of petrol imports for the same years.

Senator representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, rejected the description of the differences as slight, noting that the gap in the figures was more than 50 per cent in one of the years.

He described the discrepancies as disturbing and suspicious, insisting that the committee could not accept the explanation without further investigation.

Similarly, representing Ondo South, Senator Dayo Faduyile, said the conflicting figures raised concerns about possible foul play.

The Senator representing Akwa Ibom North East, Anietie Bassey, also called for a thorough investigation, warning that the country must not allow Nigerians to be shortchanged.

Following the lawmakers’ objections, the committee chairman, Senator Hassan Dankwabo, representing Gombe North, said the explanation provided by NMDPRA was unacceptable.

He announced that the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and NEITI would be summoned to a joint meeting to explain the discrepancies and reconcile their records.

The committee said the meeting would help establish the correct figures and determine whether the differences resulted from record-keeping problems or possible fraud.