Financial Energy Review
by Musa Ibrahim………….
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is to account for N2.4 trillion it generated as revenue and N88 billion paid out as commission fees for revenue collection.
Senate Committee on Finance while grilling the officials of DPR over the weekend frowned at the inability of DPR to account for the N2.4 trillion generated by the agency in 2019 in which over N88 billion was paid as collection fees.
The Senate Committee also wondered why DPR could not give proper account of the money it spent on over head cost. Though DPR explained that part of the N88 billion was use for over head but proper details were not given on what constitutes the overhead cost. The agency also pointed out that ,N5.72 billion was also remitted.
Senator . Solomon Adeola, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, queried the remittance when the joint committee demanded for records of the agency’s internally generated revenues in 2019 and projections for 2021.
“Information and records presented to us by both directors or heads of departments that have spoken are not clear and insufficient as regards budget performance of DPR within the last three years and revenue projection for 2021.
“For this committee to do proper and thorough job, comprehensive records of such budget performances must be made available latest by Monday (today) upon which your director and other top management staff will appear before us again on Tuesday.
“Also, well detailed proposals for revenues generation by the agency for 2021-2022 must be included in the expected comprehensive records,” Adeola said.
Earlier, Head of Planning of the agency , Mr Johnson Ajewole, who first spoke in the absence of the Director, Mr Sarki Auwalu, said that N2.4 trillion was generated by DPR in 2019 but N44.5 billion was remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Efforts made by the Head of Finance and Accounts of the Petroleum agency, Mrs Lilian Ufondu to explain the wide gap in revenues and remittance, further angered the committee members.
Persistent questions to her by the committee chairman and members on what happened to the more than N2 trillion balance were not satisfactorily answered as she was only able to mention overhead and operational costs without specific figures tied to them.
She added that as at July this year, DPR had generated N1.13 trillion and projecting N3.4 trillion as revenues generation for 2021 out which N139 billion would be taken out as four per cent collection fee .
Like DPR , heads of other agencies such as Nigeria Inland Waterways !NIWA), Bank of Industries (BOI) and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), were also not present for the interactive session and were accordingly ordered by the committee to reappear on Monday (today)
