The House of Representatives is calling for a forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) aimed at unravelling the discrepancies in the importation and supply of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) commencing from 2015 to date.

The House reached the resolution after considering the report of its Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Consumption.

Meanwhile, the committee observed that there was no record indicating that a certain volume of PMS was discharged to a particular retail outlet/fueling station or dispensed, hence the difficulty in ascertaining the actual daily consumption of PMS across the country.

The House Is charging the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to monitor trucks conveying PMS within locations and compel a daily data report on the dispense of the product at all retail outlets/fueling stations.

Recurring Decimal?

The petroleum sector is no stranger to scrutiny, with the National Assembly and civic society organisations alike putting each successive government under the microscope.

In April, the House Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Theft, invited several high-ranking officials in the Federal Government over its investigation into the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015.

Some of the officials invited to answer questions were the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; the Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; the acting Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okolieaboh; and NNPCL.

The committee was also concerned about the disparity in figures from crude oil sales from 2011 to 2014 and is accusing the minister of finance of approving payments to whistle-blowers in variance with the whistle-blower policy. (Channels TV)

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