The Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday rejected the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s records of Premium Motor Spirit imports for 2022 and 2023, citing wide gaps with figures from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, and ordered the heads of both agencies plus the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to appear and explain the differences.
Committee chairman Senator Ahmed Wadada Dankwambo said the panel found the NMDPRA’s presentation on the matter unacceptable. The decision followed the authority’s response to queries raised in the NEITI Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023.
According to the NMDPRA, Nigeria imported 3.29 billion litres of petrol in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023. NNPCL recorded 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres for the same years. The authority’s representative, Deputy Director Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe, who stood in for Authority Chief Executive Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, described the differences as slight and said they were being examined for possible reconciliation.
Several senators rejected that characterisation. Senator Abdul Ningi said the gaps were too large to be dismissed as minor or left to routine review. Senator Dayo Faduyile warned that the conflicting numbers raised questions about the reliability of official import records. Senator Anietan Bassey called for a thorough probe, arguing that Nigerians must not be short-changed by questionable official figures.
Dankwambo announced that the committee would convene a joint meeting of the NMDPRA, NNPCL and NEITI to establish the reasons for the disparities and determine whether the records can be reconciled.
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