Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The National Assembly joint committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has said it will investigate the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Shell Petroleum, Conoil and 13 other International Oil Companies (IOCs) over N1.74 trillion debt allegedly owed the commission.
The chairman, House of Representatives, Committee on NDDC, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo stated this on Monday , in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo, who is the co-chairman of the joint panel, listed the companies to be investigated to include Shebah Express Petroleum, Atlas Petroleum, Allied Energy, Frontier Oil, Seven Energy Limited, Belma Oil Producing Limited, AITECO Exploration and Production, Dubrin Oil and Continental Oil and Gas.
Others are Enageed Resources Limited, New Cross exploration and Production, Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company and Prime Exploration and Production Company.
The lawmaker said the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris and Auditor General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine are expected to appear before the joint committee in the course of the investigation.
He noted that records at the disposal of the National Assembly indicated that the affected companies are allegedly owes the NDDC N72 billion and $73 million cumulatively, while the federal government is also owing the agency a N1.2 trillion.
According to him, “these companies we are investigating are owning the NDDC huge sums of money, which when remitted to it would improve the fortunes of the people of the Niger Delta area. By the records we have, a company like Shell Petroleum Development Company is said to owing more than N54.9 billion.
“We also have it on good authority that Pan Ocean is owing as much as $46.6 million, while Allied Energy is indebted to the tune of $43 million, and Shebah Express Petroleum owes as much as $23.8 million and then Atlas Petroleum is owning $22 million.
“The 9th National Assembly cannot afford to sit and watch oil companies deny the NDDC of its statutory revenue from firms operating in the country. The 8th National Assembly did a technical audit of the NDDC and the findings were very revealing and we must recover these monies. And it is even believed that some of these oil companies do not give the actual annual budget.”
Tunji -Ojo added “we are expecting the IOCs and other oil companies to come by Wednesday to tell Nigerians why they have blatantly refused to abide by the laws of the nation. I can assure you, we will recover every dime due to the NDDC”.