SUBSIDY PROBE: Reps Want Total Overhaul of Oil Sector

Members of the House of Representatives Wednesday expressed their desire to have a total overhaul of the entire oil sector.

The members made this position clear while adopting the remaining recommendations of the Farouk Lawan-led committee report on the probe into the abuse of subsidy fund.

However, efforts by some members to have the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison Madueke personally indicted for negligence in overseeing the sector was shot down on the grounds that the House was not out the witchhunt any individual but to state the facts as they are.

Particularly, the house approved the recommendation that the committee on Petroleum Downstream should conduct an extensive and thorough investigation into the operations of the Petroleum Equalization Funds Management Board in order to ascertain the management of the bridging funds under the subsidy regime.

The House also approved that the services of the Accounting Firms, Akintola Willaims, Deloitte and Olusola Adekanola and Partners should be discontinued with immediate effect for professional negligence on this particular assignment and the firm be further investigated and prosecuted.

It was also approved that the two firms be blacklisted from being engaged by any federal Ministry, Department or Agency for a period of three years.

On the activities of the Pipelines Products Marketing company, the House approved the recommendation that its management should be overhauled while institutional mechanism be urgently developed to ensure the monitoring of actual delivery of kerosene to Nigerian masses.

It also called on the PPMC to deploy state of the art devices to protect its facilities and pipelines to eliminate wastages arising from vandalism.

In the short term, the House noted that PPMC should establish a surveillance system which should incorporate community protection and using part of the bridging funds on the petroleum support funds template to finance.

Other recommendations include:

· That the NNPC takes immediate action to pay the N46 billion owed the Nigeria Customs Service and the N6 billion owed to the Nigeria Ports Authority.

· That the failure of the Nigerian Ports Authority to provide the committee the vital vessel data particularly the IMO numbers is an indication that either Nigerian Ports Authority has a very poor record keeping system or that it was a deliberate ploy to cover up the collusion between its officials and importers and recommended an investigation into the operations and activities of NPA.

· That the Department of Petroleum Resources should take immediate steps to bring all facilities and depot owners into compliance with international best practices by ensuring the installation of modern metering gadgets and sealable and non-return valves, to eliminate the rampant cases of round tripping.

· That the Department of Petroleum Resources should brace up to its role of regulation and compel the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Pipeline Products Marketing Company to comply with all regulations issued to ensure transparency and accountability.

· That in order to reduce and gradually eliminate lightering associated inefficiency and cost, government should invest in the provision of single point monitoring. This provision should be followed up by instituting regulations to compel owners of jetties and depots to provide storage facility facilitate direct delivery of imported products by heavy vessels onshore in Nigeria.

By Desmond Utomwen/Abuja