The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee has been mandated to ascertain the total inventory, assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC and its subsidiaries following the assent of the Petroleum Industry Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The committee is to determine NNPC’s total inventory before the transfer of the defunct NNPC to NNPC Ltd to ensure a glossary accounting system.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Kingsley Chima who presided over the meeting on Thursday said the decision is in-line with the provisions of Section 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
What the Rep is saying
Mr Chima who said the House will meet with the CEO of the company also said it was necessary for the committee to meet with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.
He noted that it was the responsibility of the ministers of Petroleum and Finance to determine the assets, interest and liabilities of NNPC.
The Chairman cited section 53 (2-5) of the PIA which provides that the government of the federation shall hold full ownership of the NNPC Ltd, however, he said it will be done through the shares held by the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated and Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated on behalf of the government of the Federation.
Speaking further, he said, “Section 53(5-8) stipulates the government’s intention to set in motion the process of immediate commercialisation and privatisation of the operation and future private ownership of NNPC Ltd.”
Mr Chima revealed that the committee has requested for detailed information on NNPC assets, interests, liabilities and updated audited reports from the CEO of NNPC Ltd. He said assets are supposed to be transferred within 18 months of the PIA coming into effect.
He said the committee had also requested the yearly audited reports of NNPC from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in order to compare that of the NNPC.
Mr Chima noted that though the oil and gas industry had natural endowment, it is faced with corruption, mismanagement, crisis, environmental degradation and lack of refining capacity.
What you should know
- Section 54 of the (PIA) which speaks on the Transfer and Assets provides that all assets and liabilities of the NNPC shall be transferred to NNPC Ltd.
- The Ad-hoc committee is saddled with the responsibility of investigating the consolidated inventory, assets, interest and liabilities of the NNPC.
- NNPC was established on April 1, 1977, following a merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Resources.
- NNPC Limited was registered and incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission on September 22, 2021 as a Limited Liability Company.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported that the House announced the set up of an ad-hoc committee to investigate accounts belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries.
