Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited was indicted by the Senate on Wednesday for poor record-keeping for crude oil deliveries to Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company totaling $376, 655,589 (N102.6bn).
The indictment stemmed from Senator Mathew Uhroghide’s 2016 Auditor General report, which was upheld by the Senate Chamber during the plenary session.
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the National Population Commission, the National Agency for the Control of Aids, the FCT Area Council Service Commission, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and others are among the 35 other agencies indicted.
The query reads, “From the review and examination of domestic crude oil lifting sales profile presented for audit verification, it was noted that several deliveries were stated to be jointly lifted by or delivered to Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company without necessary details or breakdown of what was delivered to respective companies.
“From the examination carried out, a total oil lifting of 8,399,017bbls with a total sales value of $376,655,589 (N102.6 bn) was stated to have been lifted jointly by these two companies.”
According to the Senate, the failure to properly separate the deliveries and charge directly to each company makes it difficult to reconcile and account for each lifting.
The Senate, therefore, upheld the recommendation of its committee, asking the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, to ensure specific details of crude delivered to the two refineries for audit.
In addition, Senate upheld the indictment of 37 MDAs for violation of financial procedure in the country.
The upper chamber also resolved to submit the report of the indictment to the Office of Secretary to the Government of Federation for further action.
The lawmakers also considered a bill that will enforce the implementation of the outcome of the auditor general report submitted to the National Assembly for consideration.
The deliveries of crude oil from Escravos Terminal for the operation of Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company are channeled directly into the WRPC facility.