The Senate has rejected records of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) importation presented by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for 2022 and 2023 over significant discrepancies with figures submitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts described the differences as unacceptable and suspicious, resolving to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to explain the conflicting records.
The discrepancies emerged during a committee hearing on queries raised in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering the 2021 to 2023 period.
Representing the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe told the committee that the authority’s records were credible.
She said Nigeria imported 3.29 billion litres of PMS in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, while NNPC’s records indicated imports of 6.27 billion litres in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023.
Ugwu-Ojobe described the differences as slight, adding that reconciliation of the figures was ongoing.
However, committee members rejected the explanation, arguing that the scale of the discrepancies required closer scrutiny.
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Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, said a disparity exceeding 50 per cent could not reasonably be described as slight, describing the situation as disturbing and suspicious.
Senator Dayo Faduyile, representing Ondo South, said the conflicting figures raised concerns about possible foul play.
Similarly, Senator Anietie Bassey, representing Akwa Ibom North East, called for a thorough investigation to ensure Nigerians were not shortchanged.
The committee’s chairman, Senator Hassan Dankwabo, representing Gombe North, said the explanation provided by the regulatory authority was unacceptable.
Dankwabo announced that the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC and NEITI would be summoned for a tripartite meeting to reconcile the records and determine the reasons for the discrepancies.
He said the meeting would seek to establish the accurate importation figures and expose any possible fraud, if found.
The conflicting records have raised questions about the consistency of official data on petroleum imports, with the committee seeking clarification from the three agencies.