From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has vowed to ensure the recovery of more than 100 billion dollars oil revenue unremitted by oil companies to the nation’s purse. The lawmakers also pledged to probe the abuse in the handling of the fuel subsidy regime.
Chairman, House Committee Petroleum (Downstream), Ikenga Ugochinyere, said this on Friday at the inaugural meeting of the committee. Ugochinyere said the committee will also probe alleged non-remittance of about 20 billion dollars royalties to the government by oil and gas companies. The lawmaker, while expressing concern that the Federal Government was losing revenue from various loopholes, said his committee will work towards blocking every loophole as well as recovery of unremitted revenue. He added that the committee will push for legislations that will ensure energy security. Ugochinyere said: “This committee will legislate for energy security, professionalism in the petroleum sector, economic transformation, accountability, institutional reforms and revenue recovery and generation, with a specific goal of helping the Federal Government to recover 100 billion US dollars revenue from the sector.
“The committee notes that although the introduction of subsidy was for the good of Nigerians, the abuse of it and the corruption that held sway in the sector, led to its removal by Mr. President. This committee will investigate the corruption in the sector and the abuse of the regime that led to its removal by Mr. President.
“The committee will investigate why the regime which was meant to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians failed to achieve the intended purpose. The committee will also investigate the non-remittance(s) of about 20 billion US dollars in royalty to the federation account by the relevant oil and gas sector players (public and private).
“I have no doubt that with the calibre of membership we have, this committee will deliver on its mandate and achieve its aims, objectives and projections. Let me also urge the various stakeholders in the petroleum sector to cooperate with our committee in the discharge of our functions and be open to positive changes where necessary.
We are not going to victimise or witch-hunt anyone, but we will certainly do our work with a deep sense of service to the nation.”