06 July 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – NIGERIA’s lawmakers in the House of Representatives have instituted an investigation into the reports of fraud in the operations of the nation’s joint venture (JV) operations with multinational companies operating in its oil and gas sector.
They are also probing connivance between officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the multinational oil companies in non-remittance of funds into the Federation Account amounting to over $17 billion USD (N2.7 trillion).
The House mandated it’s committee on Petroleum Upstream to “investigate the operations of the joint venture agreements with particular reference to leakages” as it adopted a motion on the matter sponsored by Rep. Ossai Nicholas Ossai of Delta State.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), told a legislative hearing in November last year that over $17.64 billion (about N2.7 trillion) was spent by the NNPC as joint venture cash calls over a period of four years (2005 – 2008) illegally.
NEITI’s presentation also showed shortfalls from the amount sold (expected) and what was eventually paid into the Federation Account by the NNPC.
