There was a twist today in the tale about what the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did with the $10.8 oil revenue which it admitted to have failed to remit to the Federation Account. Suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who blew the whistle on the missing funds, had put the figure at $20 billion.

At the resumed sitting of the Senate Committee on Finance on the missing funds, Managing Director, Nigerian Development Petroleum Corporation (NPDC), Mr. Victor Briggs, today refuted the claim that his organisation received the sum of $6 billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for its operations.

This was in response to the question by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi, regarding whether NPDC received such money from NNPC as claimed by the corporation while explaining what it did with the unremitted funds.

Another shocker came when the Attorney General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, submitted that NNPC can legally transfer its participating interest to any of its subsidiaries, provided that it obtains the consent of the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Not satisfied with the submissions from the petroleum industry agencies, the Senate Committee Chairman further demanded that the NNPC, NPDC and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) furnish the Committee with more documents to buttress their claims.

The Senate Committee adjourned sitting until March 6, 2014.

•Photo shows NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu.