The Senate Joint Committee on the Investigation into the
Administration of Subsidy Funds, has engaged the services of consultants
to enable it analyse the contents of large volumes of documents
submitted to it by agencies in the oil and gas sector.
The agencies include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum.
The decision to hire the consultants was due to the committee’s inability to analyse the technical details contained in the documents.
It is stipulated in the rules of the Senate that committees could seek the services of consultants and other specialised organisations in gleaning out facts from the records during such investigations.
Although the committee began its investigations in November last year, following a resolution of the Senate to expose the cartel in the oil sector, it appears that it is still a long way from concluding its task.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the chairman of the committee, Senator Magnus Abe, said the documents came in big bags and were beyond the committee’s capacity to deal with.
He said, “We asked for documents. These documents were brought in big ‘Ghana-must-go’ bags. We had to bring in some people to study the documents in an organised way.
“Since it is an investigative hearing, we had to get consultants to study the documents and process the information that we have there before we can come up with a clean report.
“I don’t have the training, and we don’t have the capacity within the committee to analyse the documents. So we had to get consultants. Until they finish, we will not be able to conclude our work.”
Abe denied that there was pressure from some quarters to frustrate the report, saying that the issues had been brought to the public domain and there was nothing to hide.
He said the committee was not given a deadline to finish its work, but it was prepared to do its best to ensure that the report was completed as soon as possible.
He said during the public hearing, the committee succeeded in uncovering how about 100 oil companies received a total of N1.43trn as at August 2011, adding that at the end of the year, the sum had increased to N1.7trn.
In its response, the PPPRA said a whopping sum of N3.64trn was spent for subsidy payments between 2005 and 2011.
The joint committee was saddled with the responsibility of unravelling the contradictions in the fuel subsidy scheme after a motion initiated by Senator Abubakar Saraki was debated and approved by the Senate last October.
Saraki had indicated that though N240bn was earmarked in the 2011 Appropriation Act as subsidy for petroleum products, a total of N931bn has so far been expended as at August 2011.
The agencies include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum.
The decision to hire the consultants was due to the committee’s inability to analyse the technical details contained in the documents.
It is stipulated in the rules of the Senate that committees could seek the services of consultants and other specialised organisations in gleaning out facts from the records during such investigations.
Although the committee began its investigations in November last year, following a resolution of the Senate to expose the cartel in the oil sector, it appears that it is still a long way from concluding its task.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the chairman of the committee, Senator Magnus Abe, said the documents came in big bags and were beyond the committee’s capacity to deal with.
He said, “We asked for documents. These documents were brought in big ‘Ghana-must-go’ bags. We had to bring in some people to study the documents in an organised way.
“Since it is an investigative hearing, we had to get consultants to study the documents and process the information that we have there before we can come up with a clean report.
“I don’t have the training, and we don’t have the capacity within the committee to analyse the documents. So we had to get consultants. Until they finish, we will not be able to conclude our work.”
Abe denied that there was pressure from some quarters to frustrate the report, saying that the issues had been brought to the public domain and there was nothing to hide.
He said the committee was not given a deadline to finish its work, but it was prepared to do its best to ensure that the report was completed as soon as possible.
He said during the public hearing, the committee succeeded in uncovering how about 100 oil companies received a total of N1.43trn as at August 2011, adding that at the end of the year, the sum had increased to N1.7trn.
In its response, the PPPRA said a whopping sum of N3.64trn was spent for subsidy payments between 2005 and 2011.
The joint committee was saddled with the responsibility of unravelling the contradictions in the fuel subsidy scheme after a motion initiated by Senator Abubakar Saraki was debated and approved by the Senate last October.
Saraki had indicated that though N240bn was earmarked in the 2011 Appropriation Act as subsidy for petroleum products, a total of N931bn has so far been expended as at August 2011.
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