More facts have emerged over the probe of the allegedly missing N20
\nbillion by the Senate finance committee as feelers from within showed
\nthat nothing incriminating has been found against the oil ministry and
\nits agencies.<\/p>\n
Checks inside the committee showed that rather than the big discovery of
\nfraud and mismanagement that neccesitated the probe,senators have
\ndiscovered that former Central Bank Governor ,Sanusi Lamido raised false
\nalarm and misled the committee.<\/p>\n
The committee is also said to be unhappy that the minister of finance,
\nOkonjo Iweala was not forthcoming in her testimonies especially when it
\nwas clear that Sanusi was literally lying in his presentations.<\/p>\n
The committee was said to be shocked that the presidential directive
\nwhich the oil ministry was accused of disobeying was never concluded and
\nthat it even contained contradictory provisions which make it
\nimplementation impossible.<\/p>\n
The committee was also unhappy as the case was presented as if it is
\nDieziani Maduekwe ,the present minister that refused to implement the
\ndirective .<\/p>\n
A source close to the committee said it was shocked that even late
\nYardua did not want the planned removal known to the public.<\/p>\n
By directing a removal without public announcement, the former president
\nviolates the petroleum act, which requires prices to be made public<\/p>\n
Senators on the committee including opposition senators were shocked
\nthat Sanusi misled them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe presented falsehood as facts. It was until we checked that we see
\nthe truth. We are disappointed ” a source within the committee said.<\/p>\n
The committee was also said to be impressed by the submission of the
\nAttorney General who on point of law confirm that the NNPC had acted
\nwithin the law.<\/p>\n
Mr. Adoke informed that it is instructive to note that by virtue of
\nparagraph 14 to 16 of the First Schedule of the Petroleum Act, CAP.P.10
\nLaws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN, 2004 (NNPC Act) and Regulation 4
\nof the Petroleum (Drilling and Productions) Regulations 1969 as amended,
\na holder of an OML or Oil Prospecting License (OPL) can assign its
\ninterest provided the consent of the Minister of Petroleum Resources is
\nobtained.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, section 6(1)(C) of the NNPC Act empowers the NNPC to
\nestablish and maintain subsidiaries for the discharge of its functions.
\nThe NPDC was thus incorporated as a limited liability upstream company
\nof NNPC to carry out its upstream operations as envisaged by the law,\u201d
\nAdoke submitted.<\/p>\n
He added that it is pertinent to note that the transfer of the
\nparticipating interests in the OMLs in question, relates to a joint
\nventure arrangement between NNPC, on the one hand and Shell Petroleum
\nDevelopment Company of Nigeria ltd, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd (AGIP)
\nand Total E & P (Nigeria) Limited on the other hand.<\/p>\n
On whether all revenues derived by the NNPC from upstream operations
\nincluding those under which OMLs in the JV operations are payable to the
\nFederation Account, Adoke posited that NNPC is generally under an
\nobligation to remit its revenue from the upstream petroleum operations
\ninto the federation account.<\/p>\n
According to him, this is however dependent on the definition of
\n\u2018revenue\u2019 within the meaning and intendment of section 162 (10) (c) of
\nthe constitution of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
\n1999 (Constitution) saying that the NNPC can by virtue of section 7(4)
\nof the NNPC Act defray all expenses incurred in the course of its
\nbusiness in the upstream operations.<\/p>\n
The AGF stated that the NNPC is required to pay into the Federation
\nAccount the \u2018net revenue\u2019 as opposed to the \u2018gross revenue\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m therefore of the respectful view that only the net revenue from the
\nupstream petroleum operations of the NPDC should be paid into the
\nfederation account by the NNPC. This is more so as the federating units
\ndo not contribute to the funding of upstream petroleum operations of the
\nNNPC and its subsidiary,\u201d he affirmed.<\/p>\n
Checks confirmed that the committee while yet to conclude its sittings
\nis already seen the trends of the probe.<\/p>\n
According to an insider,”what can we say now. The facts coming out
\nshowed that the oil ministry indeed has good points.<\/p>\n
The Petroleum act gives the minister enormous power. Those realities are
\nin the law. “NNPC indeed has power to incur expenditure ,to set up
\nsubsidiaries . Mallam Sanusi misled us. There is no argument about
\nthat”, the source said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More facts have emerged over the probe of the allegedly missing N20 billion by the Senate finance committee as feelers from within showed that nothing incriminating has been found against…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n