The Senate Committee on Appropriation has asked the Federal Ministries of Petroleum Resources, Budget and National Planning and Finance to reconcile their records and include an additional N108 billion in the N465.3 billion supplementary budget submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.
Pesident Buhari had recently sought approval of the National Assembly for the supplementary budget of N465.3 billion.
However, the increase in the budget came in order to meet up with subsidy claims to the major oil marketers between October to December 2015, which was not currently included in the N413 biilion subsidy claims due from January to September 2015, according to the committee.
The committee asked the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to furnish it with details of the N437 billion, that had so far been paid to NIgerian National Petroleum Corporation as its subsidy claims but which was not appropriated by the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Danjuma Goje, noted at a meeting with the ministers and heads of Federal Government agencies that intelligence reports at the disposal of the panel indicated that the Ministry of Petroleum was seeking approval for N413b billion out of the total N950 billion accrued subsidy.
Goje alleged that while the ministry had paid the subsidy due to NNPC as first line charge being its own share of the 48 per cent of the fuel it imported, the subsidy due to the oil marketers were withheld.
He said the inclusion of the N108 billion would enable the Senate to approve the money so that the minds of Nigerians would be at rest that the oil marketers would not hold the nation to ransom again during the forthcoming festive season as a result of the outstanding amount.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Jamila Soara, told the committee that she was representing the Minister, Ibe Kachikwu, who was in Lagos, to hold meetings with the major oil marketers.
Soara said her ministry’s proposal was for N413 billion, being a component of N120.552 billion as outstanding for 2014 and N292.8 billion for subsidy from January to September 2015. [myad]
