By Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has rejected the explanation by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) over sharply different figures for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports, summoning the heads of three agencies to explain the discrepancies.
The committee directed the heads of NMDPRA, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to appear before it and account for the conflicting figures for 2022 and 2023.
The decision followed a hearing on Tuesday during which the committee examined NMDPRA’s response to queries contained in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.
At the centre of the controversy are major differences in the volumes of PMS imported into the country as reported by NMDPRA and NNPCL.
NMDPRA recorded 3.29 billion litres of PMS imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, while NNPCL’s figures put the corresponding volumes at 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres.
The wide variations prompted senators to question the reliability of the figures and demand an explanation of how the agencies arrived at their respective volumes.
The Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, was represented at the hearing by a Deputy Director, Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, who defended the authority’s figures.
Ugwu-Ojobe maintained that NMDPRA stood by its figures, while acknowledging that the differences with NNPCL’s data were being examined.
“We stand by 3.29 billion litres of PMS as the volume imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres as the volume imported in 2023,” she said.
She added that the disparities were being looked into for possible reconciliation.
The explanation, however, failed to satisfy the committee, with senators rejecting NMDPRA’s description of the differences as slight.
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) said the variations were too substantial to be treated as minor differences requiring only reconciliation.
“The disparities in records of PMS importation between NMDPRA and NNPCL in 2022 and 2023, as stated in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report of 2021 to 2023, are too wide to be described as slight,” Ningi said.
He urged the committee to ensure that the agencies provided a satisfactory account of how they arrived at their respective figures.
Senator Anietan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North-East) also called for a thorough investigation, stressing that the conflicting data could not be ignored given the importance of petroleum products to the Nigerian economy.
“These questionable records of the volume of PMS importation by the two agencies must be thoroughly investigated to safeguard Nigerians from being yearly shortchanged,” Bassey said.
The committee subsequently rejected NMDPRA’s presentation and resolved to convene a meeting involving the leadership of the three agencies.
Committee Chairman, Senator Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe North), said NMDPRA had failed to satisfactorily address the queries arising from the NEITI audit report.
“In view of the unacceptability of presentations made by the representative of NMDPRA on queries raised against it in the NEITI Oil and Gas Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023, specifically on the volume of PMS imported within the years under review, this committee resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI for reasons behind the wide disparities,” Dankwambo said.
The planned meeting is expected to provide an opportunity for the three agencies to present their respective data, explain the basis for their figures and reconcile the differences.
The Senate intervention underscores the importance of accurate petroleum import data for regulatory oversight, industry planning and public accountability.
However, the conflicting figures alone do not establish fraud or wrongdoing. The committee’s engagement with the agencies is expected to determine the reasons for the disparities and whether further action is necessary.
