House to Probe $1.5bn Oil Revenue Loss by NPDC

The House of Representatives yesterday passed a motion to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged revenue losses, incompetence and other infractions by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

The proposed committee is to report back to the House within six weeks for further legislative action.

The resolution was consequent upon a motion moved by Hon. Ahmed Abu (Niger, APC) on the need to probe alleged infractions in the operations and activities of NPDC, the persisting lack of capacity and attendant revenue losses to the country.

The House had raised concern that 29 years after its establishment, the NPDC appears to lack the capacity to compete favourably in the oil and gas industry and was reported to cede its core activities to third party private entities consistently without dueprocurementprocessesinstrategic alliance agreements.

Abu, in his lead debate, said NPDC’s inability to reconcile revenue generated and amount of crude lifted had led to speculations that about $1.5 billion of projected revenue to the Federal government had been lost.

He raised concerns about allegations that most of the third party entities were newly registered companies with little or no technical experience or financial capability to carry out or meet the terms of those strategic alliance agreements and are largely owned by cronies of members of the NPDC and other interested parties which are allowed access to funds obtained by NPDC from government appropriation to their benefits.