DPR under fire in Senate over N44.5billion remittance out of N2.4trillion genrated

The Senate on Friday beamed its searchlight on the remittance of N44.5billion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2019 out of N2.4trillion generated by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which put the officials of the resources on edge.

Heads of many of the other revenue-generating agencies invited by the Senate’s joint committee on Finance and Planning for an interactive session on their 2021 revenues projections, failed to appear on grounds of indisposition and hospitalization.

Trouble came the way of DPR during the interactive session when the joint committee led by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC Lagos West), demanded records of the agency’s internally generated revenues in 2019 and projections for 2021.

The Head of Planning of the agency, Mr Johnson Ajewole, who first spoke in the absence of the Director, Engr Sarki Auwalu, said a total of N2.4trillion was generated by DPR in 2019 but N44 5billion was remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Irked by the wide gap in what was realised and remitted, the committee members described his submission as unacceptable.

Further 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.

According to her, out of the N2.4trillion generated by DPR in 2019, N88billion was removed as 4% collection fee out of which N5.72billion was also remitted while the balance was used for overhead.

More questions directed to her by the Committee Chairman and members on what happened to the over N2trillion balance were not satisfactorily 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 has generated N1.13trillion and projecting N3.4trillion as revenues generation for 2021 out which N139billion will be taken out as 4% collection fee.

Angered by the submissions and alleged disjointed records presentations, the committee ordered that the agency must reappear before it unfailingly on Tuesday next week and must be led by its Director, Sarki Auwalu, alleged to have travelled abroad.

Specifically, the committee chairman said, “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 next week, upon which your Director and other top management staff, will appear before us again on Tuesday next week.

“Also, well-detailed proposals for revenues generated by the agency for 2021-2022 must be included in the expected comprehensive records.”

Efforts made by journalists to make the troubled agency’s head of Finance and Accounts, Lilian Ufondu, explain her inability and that of her counterpart on Planning, Johnson Ajewole, to make satisfactory submissions before the committee, proved abortive, as she lamented that the day was a bad one for her and DPR.

“I’m sad and is a bad day for us. We are told to come back and we shall return on Tuesday next week,” she lamented.

Like DPR, heads of other agencies like Nigeria Inland Waterways (NIWA), Bank of Industry (BOI) and Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), were also not present for the interactive session and accordingly ordered by the committee to reappear on Monday next week.

While NIWA’s boss was said to have travelled abroad, those of BOI and SON was alleged to either be indisposed or hospitalized.

When asked by the Committee’s chairman, the hospital the Director-General of SON, Osita Aboloma, is being attended to, from the Director of Budget, David Okon, he said “I don’t know” which led to an eruption of laughter in the hall by all those present.