BY BEN AGANDE & EMMA OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA-The House of Representatives Thursday mandated its Committees on Finance and Petroleum Resources to investigate the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and how the corporation has been remitting revenues from the sale of oil and gas into federation account.

Though the trigger for the resolution was the inability of the Federation Account Allocation Committee to disburse the statutory allocation to the states and local governments for August, the probe of the activities of the Corporation which many members believe have been opaque has been on the timetable of the House of Representatives for some time.

Sponsor of the motion, Hon. Samson Osagie who lamented lack of transparency in the dealings of the corporation, noted that the “NNPC has become a behemoth that has refused to subject its budget to the National Assembly for legislative scrutiny.”

It would be recalled that the deputy Minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Sumaila Kawu had revealed last month that the House was in possession of some documents, indicating that the conduct of business by the NNPC was marred by corruption and inefficiency.

While defending the motion, Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN-Edo) noted that the statutory allocation of revenue to the various tiers of government by the Federation Allocation Account Committee was postponed for August because of the failure of NNPC to remit N450 billion to the federation account, an action he said is a clear violation of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution .

Osagie said: “The constitution says that all revenues of government must be remitted to the federation account but the NNPC has failed to do this. NNPC has become a behemoth that has refused to subject its budget to the National Assembly for legislative scrutiny. Where is the N450 billion?” he asked.

According to him, the failure of the NNPC which is the custodian of the country’s resources from oil and gas to administer its affairs in a transparent manner is a cause for concern that should be addressed by the House of Representatives which has oversight function over every government agency.

Hon Osagie said Nigeria cannot afford to allow the NNPC continue in its non-transparent dealing, noting that “as a mono-product economy dependent on oil revenue largely, Nigeria deserves to have a transparent and accountable revenue system satisfactory to all tiers of government,” pointing out that “no meaningful development can take place in the country if the scenario at the corporation was allowed to continue”.

The Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila insisted that the House must “follow the money to wherever destination it is”, saying that the money involved was “20 percent of the national budget, yet financing of projects had been difficult year-in year-out”.

The committees were also mandated, in the course of their investigation, to ascertain the level of compliance of other parastatals and agencies in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources particularly the Petroleum Pricing