THE Senate has rejected records of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) importation presented by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for 2022 and 2023 over wide disparities between the figures and those presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
News Point Nigeria reports that the decision was taken by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, which described the differences as unacceptable and suspicious and resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The discrepancies emerged during a hearing on queries raised in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering the period from 2021 to 2023.
Responding on behalf of the Authority Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe insisted that the authority’s records were credible, stating that 3.29 billion litres of PMS were imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023.
However, the figures differed significantly from those presented by NNPC, which reported 6.27 billion litres of petrol imports in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023.
Ugwu-Ojobe described the gaps as slight and said reconciliation was ongoing, but members of the committee faulted the explanation, expressing concerns over the magnitude of the differences.
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Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, said a disparity of more than 50 per cent could not be described as slight, describing the situation as disturbing and suspicious.
Similarly, Senator Dayo Faduyile, representing Ondo South, said the figures left room to suspect foul play, while Senator Anietie Bassey, representing Akwa Ibom North East, insisted on a thorough investigation to prevent Nigerians from being shortchanged.
The lawmakers maintained that the conflicting records required a comprehensive explanation, stressing the need to establish the actual volume of petrol imported into the country during the period under review.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Hassan Dankwabo, representing Gombe North, noted that the defence offered by NMDPRA was unacceptable.
He subsequently announced that the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and NEITI would be summoned for a tripartite meeting to reconcile the records or expose possible fraud.
The planned meeting is expected to provide an opportunity for the three agencies to clarify the discrepancies in their respective records and establish the basis for the conflicting figures, amid concerns raised by senators over the credibility of the reported petrol import volumes.
