High-level lobbying has stalled the submission of the oil subsidy investigation report which was due to be laid before the House of Representatives yesterday, Daily Trust learnt.

Senior government officials and fuel marketers affected by the report have launched intense pressure on the House to delay the report, which will recommend that importers be made to refund billions improperly collected from the government in the name of subsidies.
Daily Trust exclusively reported on April 2 that the report was ready for submission and that it would indict top government officials as well as recommend refunds of excess subsidy monies paid to nearly 100 marketers.

The report was to have been laid by probe committee chairman Faruk Lawal yesterday, but the House ended its plenary session without any mention of the report. This was the latest in series of delays the report has suffered.

Sources said the failure to present the document yesterday was because of pressure from a strong lobby mounted by top traditional rulers, religious leaders, other influential people and Presidency foot soldiers.

A senior lawmaker told Daily Trust that in the past week, the leadership of the House of Representatives came under pressure to allow for “soft landing” for some top government officials indicted by the probe committee.

Also, major oil marketers who are to be asked to refund billions of naira were said to be lobbying hard to be exonerated.

Lawal had said in various media interviews that his committee came under pressure during its investigations. He had also said the report was ready for presentation after the Easter holiday.

But when contacted for comments last night, Lawal said, “There is pressure but we are withstanding it. We did not give exact date for the submission of our report; we said after Easter and hopefully we will submit it tomorrow (today).

“Right now we are still in the office working on the final copy of the report. What we had before was a draft and we are trying our best to see that we present a report that would be fair to all. Even what was leaked out to the press was not exactly what we did.

“We can’t be 100 perfect in this kind of investigation especially when there is serious connivance by so many people to hide the facts but we have tried to unearth those hidden facts.”

More snippets of the report out

Parts of the subsidy probe report seen by Daily Trust show that the panel wants a cancellation of the N888 billion provided in the 2012 budget for petrol subsidies because the NNPC could use differential in its crude allocation to subside petrol.

“We discovered that the 445,000 barrels of crude oil allocated to the NNPC daily for local consumption is sufficient enough to settle subsidy bills. Therefore, there is no need to allocate another money for subsidy payment,” a committee member told Daily Trust.

At least 60 oil companies are to refund more than 200 billion being “excess” funds collected for petrol subsidy in 2011.

The companies affected are Acorn Plc, Alminnur Resources Ltd, AMG Petro-Energy Ltd, Anosyke Group, Ascon Oil & Gas, Avant Garde Energy, A-Z Petroleum, CAH Resources Association Ltd, Conoil Plc, Crust Energy Ltd, Downstream Energy Source Ltd, Dozzy Oil and Gas Ltd, Duport Marine Ltd, Eco-Regen Ltd, Eurafic Oil and Coastal Services Ltd, and First Deep water Discovery Ltd.

There are also Frado International Ltd, Fresh Synergy Ltd, Heyden Petroleum, Ibafon Oil Ltd, Imad Oil & Gas Ltd, Integrated Resources Ltd, Ipman Investment Ltd, Knightsbridge, Linetrale Oil supply and Trading Company, Lingo Oil & Gas Company Ltd, Lloyds Energy Ltd, Lottoj Oil & Gas Ltd, Maizube Petroleum Ltd, Matrix Energy Oil & Gas Ltd, and Menol Oil & Gas Ltd.

The report will also recommend that the EFCC should further investigate the irregular subsidy payments.

It will also ask the Accountant-General of the Federation to account for over N214 billion being excess subsidy payments in 2009 and 2010.

The House ad hoc committee held series of hearings in January and February to, among others, determine the exact amount spent on subsidies and to also find if there was fraud as widely alleged.

The probe was instituted in the wake of the petrol subsidy removal protests in January, when questions arose as to what were the exact subsidy payment figures.

Government at the time said up to N1.3 trillion was spent in 2011, even though officials gave higher, conflicting figures during the hearings.

In the report, NNPC was blamed for illegal deductions of over a N1 trillion as its own share of subsidy charges from the Federation Account.

The PPPRA was equally not spared by the committee, as the report will say that it tampered with the oil import template, licensing of “portfolio or briefcase companies” and other transactions.

The House probe was instituted on January 8 after a motion moved by Rep. Yusuf Tajuddeen (PDP, Kogi) and 100 others during an unprecedented emergency session of the House held on a Sunday, following removal of petrol subsidies on January 1 by the Federal Government.

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=160072:lobbyists-delay-subsidy-report&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Which way Nigeria?

This is interesting. So many conspiracies, looting in the country.

Na lie . . . dem don begin make excuses in preparation for their next moves to show the report and it's reveals under mattress. How can lobbyists delay submission of a report that has been reportedly finalized