Unaccounted N20b In NNPCL Raises Dust

<h4>Unaccounted N20b In NNPCL Raises Dust<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that an unaccounted N20b in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has raised dust and prompted legislative scrutiny&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The House of Representatives during the week set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged missing N20 billion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The said sum would have been stolen by the staff of NNPCL&comma; using falsified modes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to investigation&comma; the sum was alleged to have been siphoned through a payment made to ghost consultants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The House&comma; therefore&comma; following the consideration of a motion of urgent public importance moved at plenary by Ibrahim Mohammed Kawu&comma; de emphasized NNPCL&&num;8217&semi;s earlier statement by its Chief Corporate Communications Officer&comma; Garba Muhammad&comma; refuting the allegation of missing N20 billion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The House considered Kawu&&num;8217&semi;s motion on the grounds that NNPCL staff were reported to have diverted over N20 billion said to have been paid to its consultants&semi; Messers Safaya&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The said over twenty billion naira diverted by the staff of the NNPC is part of monies meant for payment of taxes to State Governments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If no action is taken by the parliament to nip this unwholesome practice in the bud&comma; it will negatively affect the fortune of the nation as well as deprive State governments of access to revenue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Adopting the motion&comma; the speaker&comma; Femi Gbajabiamila&comma; who presided over plenary&comma; set up an ad-hoc committee to be chaired by Kingsley Chinda and six other lawmakers to investigate and report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;