Hours before the House of Representatives commence consideration of the report of its ad-hoc committee that probed the management of the fuel subsidy fund, the house has dismissed the claims of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that the subsidy report was doctored.
In a statement signed by the spokesman of the House of Representative, Zakari Mohammed, the lawmakers observed that following the presentation of the report, several individuals, marketers and organisations, not favoured by the report have sought to discredit the report.
On claims by the NNPC that the report had been altered to embarrass it, the spokesman said the NNPC must be in possession of another report to assert that the one before the house was altered and called the NNPC spokesman a ‘chief denial officer.’
“For the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation (NNPC), claims that the Adhoc committee report may have been altered to embarrass it (the NNPC), is only in tandem with the current reckoning of its spokesman as a “chief denial officer”, the statement read.
The spokesman also commented on the reports that 18 marketers were heading to court, saying the move was an orchestrated plot to scuttle the findings of the committee.
The NNPC and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), were asked to refund more than N1 trillion to federal coffers, while their officials have been recommended for sack in the report.
The House described the corporation’s position, and the purported legal action instituted against it by a group of 18 indicted marketers as “an orchestrated plot to scuttle the findings of the committee.”
Mr. Mohammed said the moves only attempted to “impugn” the credibility of the report and its recommendations.
“Coming under various guises, including but not limited to buck-passing and alleged non-invitation to the investigative hearing, several of them are desperately seeking to undermine the outcome of the report consideration billed for tomorrow (Tuesday).”
The house also urged Nigerians to be vigilant and wary of those who would rather that the country continues to be run in the corruption-laden way, which would put unmerited resources in individual pockets at the expense of the people.
