The House of Representatives has accused government agencies and other stakeholders in the oil sector of frustrating efforts at determining the volume of PMS consumed in the country daily with a view to determining the actual amount of subsidy being paid by the government.
Chairman of the special adhoc committee investigating the volume of PMS consumed daily in the country, Rep. Abdulkadir Abdullahi, spoke at the resumed investigative hearing just as the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Ibrahim, said available records with the Navy revealed that about 202.9 million metric tons of PMS was imported into the country between 2015 and 2022 and another 12.3 million metric tons from January to July 2022.
Out of 18 agencies expected to appear before the committee, only the Nigerian Customs Service and Nigerian Navy appeared before the committee.
Rep. Sa’ad said the committee was conducting an investigative hearing on the need to ascertain the actual daily consumption of the premium motor spirit (PMS) in Nigeria, adding that the panel will leave no stone unturned in ascertaining the rate of fuel consumption in Nigeria on daily basis.
He said: “I want to express my disappointment in some of the MDAs we have because this is a very important responsibility as far as the House of Representatives is concerned. We are all elected from our various constituencies, representing various states and local governments and like we said earlier, the issue of consumption of petroleum products especially PMS is a very sensitive issue in this country and it has far reaching implications on the fiscal federalism of this country.
“So we expect government agencies to cooperate with us to give us information, to give us data that we asked for so that we synthesis all these and make analysis and come out with a fair view and position of the volume consumed in the country which will invariably give a light as to the amount of money needed to subsidise this product. But unfortunately most of the key players in the industry have been avoiding appearing before this committee.
“Let me sound a note of warning that this committee and indeed the House of Representatives will leave no stone unturned and there is no agency that is above the law. Let them understand that they can only delay their appearance before this committee. But they cannot escape the tentacles of this committee and the House of Representatives as far as this investigative hearing is concerned.
“So, it is better for them to appear before this committee and lay their submissions and give us the data that is required for the exercise, for the mandate of this committee to be actualised. I want to use this medium to draw the attention that we expect them to be civil organisations of government and cooperate in this very important legislative responsibility.
“So, Mr. Clerk, all the governmental agencies including the ones that sent in letters asking for extension, you write them get a date for them preferably the second week of August and fix a date for another hearing and give them last warning, failure to appear will attract unpalatable consequences from the committee and the House.”
In their presentation, Rear Olusola Oluwagbire who represented the Chief of Naval Staff said “As to the amount of the PMS that is imported, from our records, from 2015 to July 2022, total quantity of PMS imported from all sources, NNPC, PPMC, OMTC into Nigeria amounts to 202.9 million metric tons and for the first 7 months of 2022 so far, from our records 12.3 million metric tons of PMS have been imported.
“From January 2017 to July 2022, we have arrested 174 vessels, for various offences and the details are in the letter forwarded to you. Regards the NNPC, PPMC letter, between 2020 and 2022, we were able to get 4676 letters and so far in 2022.”
He said seizures were handed over to either the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC or the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps depending on the nature of the seizures, saying “we hand over to EFCC or the Civil Defence depending on the offence. The records are in the submission.”