The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the recovery of outstanding N2.6 trillion debts owed the Nigerian government by oil and gas companies has ordered the companies to provide evidence of taxes, royalties and levies.
The investigation is based on the report of the National Extractive Industries Extractive Initiative (NEITI) that 77 Oil and Gas companies operating in Nigeria owed the Nigerian government over N2.6 trillion, NAN reports.
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Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who chaired the 18-member committee investigating the matter, called on the companies to make the appropriate submission and provide evidence of payments and outstanding from 2019 to date.
Peradventure any of the companies fail to do this, she said, the committee will make use of legislative approach to enforce full compliance of its directives by the invited companies and the government agencies.
She further urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to furnish the payment records on field basis from 2019 till date as well as all outstanding as of March 12.
The NUPRC was also to provide detailed information on crude oil production and lifting, gas production and utilisation and gas flare including payment from 2019 to date.
Meanwhile, the NNPC was also requested to provide details of $440 million waived to Nigeria Petroleum Development Companies as well as profile outstanding debt owed to NUPRC, FIRS and other government revenue collecting agencies.
According to Onyejeocha, the committee needs clarification on the deduction made on remittances to the federation account from domestic crude sales proceeds.
She said the clarification should include details of NEEDS Assessment cost breakdown and procurement process on the selection of vendors for pipeline repairs and maintenance.
A detailed breakdown of crude and product losses pipeline break point and volume including third-party government agency validation certification should be provided.
Onyejeocha called on FIRS to also provide details of payment and outstanding tax obligation as of March 16, including details of tax waivers given to oil and gas companies from 2019 till date.
She said the Central Bank of Nigeria should also provide the bank statements of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for confirmation of receipts of outstanding liabilities from 2019 till date.
The investigative hearing, she said, was not for the sake of it, adding that the committee was serious.
“We are not too happy that we can’t make use of resources available to us,” she added.
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