…as Reps accuse agency of revenue fraud
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency yesterday confessed that it failed to remit N501 million of the revenue it generated in 2014.
PPPRA Director of Finance and Accounts, Peter Joshua, disclosed this in Abuja at the ongoing investigative hearing of the House ofRepresentatives Committee on Finance.
Joshua said the agency generated N2,835,762,551.71 as revenue in 2014 and was expected to remit 25 percent of the amount which was N708,940,637, but remitted only N207,726,194.
He also told the lawmakers that the PPPRA generated over N3bn in 2015.
Explaining the shortfall in the remittance in 2014 as disclosed earlier in his submission, he said the difference was N501,214, 453.
He noted that the PPPRA expected revenue as contained in its annual budgets was different from the actual amounts it had been collecting annually over the years.
Joshua said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and oil marketers were owing the price regulator.
He noted that the major source of revenue was a levy of 15 Kobo per litre on every locally refined or imported petroleum product delivered to the NNPC, major and independent marketers.
The committee, probing the revenues generated and remitted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies between 2014 and 2018, had earlier alleged that the PPPRA failed to remit N501,214, 453 in 2014 alone.
It also accused the agency of under-remitting the correct amount of revenue it generated to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government as and when due over the years.
The chairman of the committee, James Faleke, said: “The Director of Finance, you’re hiding facts. It’s either you’re hiding facts or you’re not competent, and we’ll recommend appropriately when we finish with the probe. We’re not getting facts from you. You’re sitting on Nigerians’ money.”
Members of the committee expressed their surprise at the failure of the PPPRA officials to provide the figures of daily consumption of petroleum products in the country.
They said the figures being presented by PPPRA could only be verified with the correct daily consumption volume.
Joshua told the lawmakers that only the Department of Operations in the PPPRA, which works directly with the NNPC, could confirm the volume and sales of the products.
The committee asked the PPPRA to report back on February 27.
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