The Senate on Wednesday indicted the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited for poor record‑keeping of crude oil deliveries to the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company and the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, involving a total value of $376,655,589 (N102.6 bn). The indictment arose from the 2016 Auditor General report, which was presented by Senator Mathew Uhroghide and upheld by the Senate Chamber during a plenary session.
The query noted that, after reviewing the domestic crude oil lifting sales profile for audit verification, several deliveries were recorded as being jointly lifted by or delivered to both refineries without the necessary details or a breakdown of what was delivered to each facility. The examination revealed a total oil lifting of 8,399,017 barrels, valued at $376,655,589 (N102.6 bn), that was reported as being jointly lifted by the two companies. The Senate argued that the failure to separate the deliveries and charge each company directly makes reconciliation and accounting for each lifting difficult.
Consequently, the Senate upheld its committee’s recommendation, directing the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, to provide specific details of crude delivered to the two refineries for audit. In addition, the Senate upheld the indictment of 37 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) for violations of financial procedures, including 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, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, among others.
The upper chamber resolved to submit the indictment report to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for further action. Lawmakers also considered a bill that would enforce the implementation of the Auditor General’s report findings in the National Assembly. The crude oil deliveries from the Escravos Terminal for the operation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries are channeled directly into the WRPC facility.
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