28 May 2016, Abuja – A panel of the House of Representatives set up to review and determine the number of Oil Prospecting Licenses, OPL, and Oil Mining Licenses, OML, currently in operation in Nigeria said the operations of the oil and gas sectors are shrouded in secrecy.
The committee’s chairman, Rep Gedeon Gwani (PDP, Kaduna), yesterday, in Abuja, accused the heads of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachukwu and that of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, of refusing to furnish the lawmakers with information on oil exploration.
He said that the officials refused to respond to the committee’s inquiry, despite it establishing that the multinational companies have evaded the payment of $2 billion to the Nigerian government.
Gwani lamented that several years after the acquisitions, the facilities have remained in comatose.
He said that the committee had only received materials from the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) during its investigation.
*Musa Abdullahi Krishi & Ibrahim Kabiru Sule – Daily Trust
