Unaccounted N20b In NNPCL Raises Dust

Timipre Sylva

<h4>Unaccounted N20b In NNPCL Raises Dust</h4>&NewLine;<a href="https&colon;//openlife&period;ng/">OpenLife Nigeria</a> reports that an unaccounted N20b in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has raised dust and prompted legislative scrutiny&period;&NewLine;The House of Representatives during the week set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged missing N20 billion&period; &NewLine;The said sum would have been stolen by the staff of NNPCL, using falsified modes&period;&NewLine;According to investigation, the sum was alleged to have been siphoned through a payment made to ghost consultants&period;&NewLine;The House, therefore, following the consideration of a motion of urgent public importance moved at plenary by Ibrahim Mohammed Kawu, de emphasized NNPCL&&num;8217&semi;s earlier statement by its Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Garba Muhammad, refuting the allegation of missing N20 billion&period; &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;&NewLine;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;&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If no action is taken by the parliament to nip this unwholesome practice in the bud, it will negatively affect the fortune of the nation as well as deprive State governments of access to revenue&period;&NewLine;Adopting the motion, the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, who presided over plenary, 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;&NewLine;