‘House Invitation To NNPC Subsidiaries Classless’- Stakeholders Query Lawmakers’ Call For 2014 Accounts In 2021

Stakeholders in the petroleum sector and observers of Nigeria’s lawmaking process have been mystified by the recent summon of heads of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) subsidiaries by the National Assembly  to explain their finances from 2014-2018 – a period that preceded the current regime of transparency at the Corporation.

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts recently blew hot over alleged serial refusal of the NNPC and its subsidiaries to honour invitations by the committee for an in-depth investigative hearing.

The committee fumed at the alleged refusal of the non-Treasury funded agencies of government to be audited by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation for the period 2014-2018, which is in alleged breach of extant financial regulations.

The committee  was so excited with its understanding of its powers and functions that it threatened to  invoke relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to compel the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mele Kyari and heads of 17 subsidiaries to give accounts of stewardship.

The affected agencies include: Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited; Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company; Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited; Duke Oil Company Inc.; West Africa Gas Limited; Nidas Marine Limited; Hyson (Nigeria) Limited and Nigerian Gas Company.

Others are: National Engineering and Technical Company; National Petroleum Exchange; NNPC Pension Limited; Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company; Port Harcourt Refining Company; NNPC Retail Limited; Integrated Data SERVICE Limited; National Petroleum Investment & Management Services and Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency.

 In its letters to the NNPC GMD, the lawmakers said they were pursuing observance to constitutional provisions in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 as well as Sections 15, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 25 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

In fairness, the House requested for copies of approved budget, both appropriation and internally generated revenue, between 2014 and 2018; audited and management accounts; budget performance report; evidence of remittance of audited accounts to the Auditor-General of the Federation; evidence of remittance of internally generated revenue and or operating surplus to Consolidated Revenue Fund account to the Committee ahead of the investigative hearing.

But observers of the development  are rather mystified that for some reasons, Nigeria and its institutions might have unwittingly played into the hands of folly in an avowed disinterest in the growth of information technology as the way forward for a 21st century world.

Many are of the view that the lawmakers have not shown “class” and are acting like uninformed people who cannot comprehend what is happening around them.

“Right there on the screen of a smart phone, (a device popular among the members of the committee) and just a click away is the website of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (https://www.nnpcgroup.com/Pages/Home.asp); containing all information sought by the committee of the House,” says a senior presidency official who preferred to be anonymous.

 He stressed that while the NNPC have had a reputation of a monster that had defied transparency and accountability checks over the years,  recent developments since the coming of the Mele Kyari would have sufficed for the lawmakers.

He added: “These guys need to show more class. Today, and for the first time, the corporation by some whisks of ingenuity and perhaps learning from the mistakes of the past has become more transparent in its financial dealings. A perfect user interface has been created on on https://www.nnpcgroup.com/Pages/Home.asp where the public could readily get its audited financial statements free of charge.

“It is on record that at no time had the audited accounts of the corporation been placed in public domain, which laid the foundation for the 2015 scandal of $ 20 billion which embarrassed the administration of then President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, because the then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, exploited the lacuna occasioned by the absence of an audited NNPC account in public space.

“Ditto the administration of embattled former Petroleum Minister, Deziani Alison Madueke whose tenure supervising the corporation was fraught with allegations of fleece and massive looting, again occasioned by the absence of the audited account of the corporation and its subsidiaries.”

Other stakeholders  have also wondered why the lawmakers are refusing to embrace information technology and the internet which  is the globally accepted norm in the 21st century where governments and institutions place public relevant information in spaces where anybody, in any part of the world and at any time can access it without recourse to whatsoever bureaucratic bottlenecks.

“To think that the current regime in NNPC which allows the public to access critical and relevant information on its finances is not being maximized, calls for worry,” says a senior personnel at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

The official told THE WHISTLER that it was, “embarrassing and avoidable” that the lawmakers would require subsidiaries of an organic organization that has a Group Managing Director (GMD) to appear in persons, instead of the GMD himself/herself whose statutory responsibility is to bear the burden of the subsidiaries, to do so.

“If the lawmakers are requesting to see all the heads of NNPC subsidiaries instead of the GMD whose is their direct boss, it would mean that Nigeria and its institutions, have developed the proclivity for wrongs, are bent on continuing on that path,” he concluded, adding that some of the lawmakers must have been embarrassed by their colleagues who appeared too enamored by personal interest rather than national interest.

A top employee of one of the NNPC subsidiaries also miffed by the development, said: “Except of course, that by appearing before the House Committee to discuss issues like the corporation’s finances from the inglorious 2014 (which predates the current GMD and which, no thanks to former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido, was a cesspool of scandal), the House is erring on the path of well documented pre-2015 information or knowledge; or there’s more to the invitation than is in public domain.

“In addition, it beggars understanding what the logic of a scandalized 2014 audit report of the NNPC and its subsidiaries would be doing for a proactive House Committee keen on ensuring public good in a 2021.What is the relevance of looking at 2014 accounts in 2021?

“ Everyone agree that the wrong practices of the past aren’t happening again under the current leadership and as such the lawmakers ought to deploy their energy elsewhere.”

Many are also of the view that the members of the House commiittee, if they had been doing their oversight well, should have known what transpired during the period instead of diverting the attention of current leadership of the NNPC that is focused on reform and more transparency.

“In saner climes where prudence trumps pockets, the present administration of the corporation deserves nothing short of legislative support, and not bashing, especially in its avowed commitment to ensure transparency, inclusiveness and openness.

“If there’s any lesson to be learnt from the Mele Kyari’s ingenuous cleansing of a system renowned for its opaqueness, is that transparency, openness and equity pays in nation building,” he stated.

If there’s one thing stakeholders are agreed on, it is that the NNPC example should be replicated in all government institutions including the esteemed National Assembly Commission. Let all throw their books wide-open as NNPC has done through its website: https://www.nnpcgroup.com/Pages/Home.asp