By Aaior K. Comfort

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives clarified on Monday that it has not accused the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) of being involved in a N32 billion revenue leak scandal or failing to adhere to Treasury Single Account (TSA) protocols. This clarification came from Bamidele Salam, the Chairman of the committee, during a hearing regarding the Auditor-General’s report.

Salam emphasized that the committee’s primary focus is safeguarding public interests, particularly in revenue generation. He stated, “We have not said or accused NUPRC of revenue leakage as reported by the media. We cannot control their narrative, but I don’t know where they got it from.” He assured that the committee conducts thorough scrutiny and does not draw conclusions without comprehensive evaluation.

Recent media reports, not from PUNCH Online, had alleged that the committee identified a N32.151 billion revenue leak in NUPRC’s records for the Federal Government between 2015 and 2022. These reports suggested that approximately N909.3 million was transferred directly to private accounts without complying with TSA protocols. Furthermore, discrepancies were cited, including N15.4 billion in Remita-listed transactions and N6.3 billion in transactions reportedly missing from NUPRC data.

Bamidele reiterated the significance of the NUPRC as a crucial agency for the nation, noting that the committee refrains from making judgments on sensitive revenue matters without thorough reviews.

In response to the allegations, NUPRC Chief Executive Gbenga Komolafe assured the committee of the commission’s adherence to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021. He stated that the NUPRC had provided all necessary documents to counter the claims made against it.

Komolafe explained that the delays in payment of unremitted funds were due to specific funding arrangements, including Modified Carry Agreements (MCA) and Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreements with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL). He added that the NUPRC presented evidence, including communication records with NNPCL and account statements, to support its claims.

Regarding the allegations of TSA protocol violations and discrepancies in Remita data, the NUPRC clarified that the reported figures originated directly from the Remita platform. The commission stated that its collections through Remita are managed by an Enterprise Automated Portal, consisting of legacy systems inherited from the now-defunct Department of Petroleum Resources.