Lawmakers beam searchlight on petroleum industry, move to recover $20bn lost revenue

The House of Representatives is set to beam its searchlight on the petroleum industry to assist the federal government in recovering lost revenues totalling about $20 billion.

They lawmakers also intend assisting the federal government in achieving early remittance of federal revenues, probe subsidy beneficiaries, scrutinize loan transactions, and pre-export financing arrangements, and review loans associated with crude oil.

Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) made this known on Friday.

“The committee’s specific objective is to assist the Federal Government in recovering the $20 billion revenue lost in the sector. The committee will also ensure adequate supply of domestic crude to achieve energy security.”

Ugochinyere also highlighted the following goals of the committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream):

Prioritize early remittance of federal revenues and the recovery of unremitted funds in the near future. This aims to ensure timely remittance of government revenues and retrieve any outstanding funds not yet remitted.

Probe subsidy beneficiaries, scrutinize loan transactions, and pre-export financing arrangements, and review loans associated with crude oil. This involves investigating the beneficiaries of subsidies, closely examining loan transactions, and financing arrangements, and assessing loans linked to crude oil.

READ ALSO: Shell reveals how Nigeria lost N2.3tn in revenue in one year year

Examine the direct sales, and direct purchase method, and evaluate the use of crude for importing refined petrol and other related value chains.

Collaborate with relevant committees in the upstream, mainstream, gas, and petroleum training fund sectors to achieve specific objectives.

Assess actions taken before and after the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), evaluate the status of national assets, and ensure energy security.

Investigating the level of competition in the downstream sector as envisioned in the Petroleum Industry Act.

Focus on addressing the challenge of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC’s dominance as the main importer of petrol, deviating from the PIA’s vision of diverse downstream operators.

Tackling the difficulties associated with providing domestic crude to modular and local refineries, in line with the constitutional provision outlined in the Petroleum Industry Act.

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