BEVERLY HILLS, December 14, (THEWILL) – The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister Of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and the Minster Of State For Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, to appear before it next week Thursday to explain their roles in alleged unbudgeted funds being paid as fuel subsidy.
Also summoned by the Joint Committee on Finance and Petroleum Downstream are the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, and the heads of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).
The joint committee is a combination of the Committees on Finance and Petroleum (downstream) chaired by Babangida Ibrahim (Katsina, APC) and Joseph Akinlaja (Ondo, PDP) respectively.
Members of the committee reached the decision to summon the stakeholders following the failure of the government officials to appear before it despite several invitations.
The joint panel had been mandated by the House to probe allegations that, despite the current administration’s claims that it had removed petroleum subsidy, billions of naira are still being paid without being budgeted for.
Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim during plenary said there are documented evidence that the landing cost of petroleum products is far above the government approved N145 a litre, adding that the task before the committee is to know who is paying for the differential.
“The mandate given to this joint committee on finance and petroleum (downstream) by the House are to invite the minister of state for petroleum and finance minister; the GMD of NNPC as well as ES of PPPRA, and urge the Executive to make provision for subsidy payment in the 2019 budget,” he said.
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