In a motion passed by the lower house of parliament, the Nigerian lawmakers decided to investigate the state oil firm for the shortfall in revenue remittances to the state exchequer.
The lawmakers felt that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC’s) payments to the government account were less than expected against prevailing higher crude oil prices. On last Tuesday, the House of Representatives decided to probe NNPC, for the under-remittance of about 100 billion nairas ($327.65 million). An ad-hoc committee has been set up to investigate crude oil sales and other sources of funds of NNPC for May and June and will report to House of Representatives.
In the meantime, the NNPC denied any under remittance and stated that its remittance to the government account was in line with terms agreed with state governors. Government revenues are collected centrally each month and distributed to the various levels of a state including the federal government, state governments, and local government councils.
Nigeria, an OPEC member, is Africa’s biggest crude producer and oil sales account for two-thirds of the government revenue. Africa’s oil wealth potential was known only in the 1980’s. Since then, its production graph has been going up. The flip side of this sudden oil wealth, experts say, is neglect of other sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. The share of these two sectors has steadily declined since large-scale oil mining started. Oil also has bred widespread corruption and skewed distribution of income.
