Hopes for an early release of the report of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime Monitoring were dashed on Thursday, because of ‘conflicting responses’ from government agencies and companies involved in the importation of petroleum products.
The House had passed a resolution on January 8, mandating the ad hoc committee to investigate the application of subsidy funds by the Federal Government and produce a report within three weeks.
Chairman of the committee, Farouk Lawan, who briefed the House on the progress of the investigation on Thursday, explained that the committee had initially planned to lay the report on Tuesday, April 3, after members would have used the weekend to fine-tune it.
But he said that inconsistencies in the responses from respondents delayed the job.
“On almost every aspect of the fuel subsidy application, we got conflicting responses.
“This made the ad hoc committee to take a longer time to do a meticulous work on the report,” he said.
Lawan, therefore, asked for more time to enable members to clean up the report, which he said was ‘almost ready’.
He said, “The report is almost ready and we plan to submit it next week. I appeal to Nigerians to allow us clean up the draft of the report.
“We want to tender a report that Nigerians will be proud of.”
The House directed the committee to submit the report on April 16, when it would resume from Easter break.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over the session, obliged Lawan’s request for more time.
Ihedioha said since the House would be adjourning for Easter on Thursday (yesterday), the Lawan committee had up till April 16 to produce the report.
The deputy speaker said the leadership of the House did not interfere with the work of the committee in the course of the investigation.
He said, “There has been apprehension in some quarters over this report; that is why we have to appreciate the request of the committee.
“The leadership of the House has not involved itself in the work of the committee in any way.”
Among the issues to be determined in the report is the actual daily consumption rate of petrol and other petroleum products in the country.
It is also to determine the exact amount spent on fuel subsidy in 2011 by the Federal Government.
In addition, it is to find out whether the management of the fuel subsidy fund has been transparent.
For example, regarding the money spent on subsidy in 2011, government agencies and officials quoted figures ranging from N1.3tn, N1.4tn to N1.7tn when they testified before the panel.
But from preliminary findings, the committee discovered that about N2tn was spent on subsidy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability, Mr. Kingsley Moghalu, who represented the CBN Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, at the hearing of the committee, said a total of N1.7tn was spent on fuel subsidy in 2011. The disclosure contradicted the N1.4tn figure, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had told the committee earlier.
Moghalu had said the apex bank played a limited role in fuel subsidy management, adding that it only ensured monetary and price stability.
“I am aware there have been some testimonies here giving different figures, but as the banker to the government, we should have the current figure. And although we need to get through documents for the exact figure, the amount approximately is N1.7 tn,” Moghalu said in his testimony.
Also, the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, Mr. Reginald Stanley, in his testimony before the panel, had revealed that the actual demand for petrol was 35 million litres per day while 59 million litres were being imported daily, translating to a surplus of 24 million litres per day.
Also, it was discovered in the course of the proceedings of the committee that companies that had nothing to do with oil business were given petrol import allocations by the PPPRA.
It was found that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was unable to refine most of its 445,000 barrels per day crude oil allocation in Nigeria and was involved in crude oil swap deals and offshore refining to secure petrol for domestic consumption.
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