The House of Representatives has commenced efforts to transfer assets of the defunct Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to NNPC Limited.
Section 54 (1) of the Act states: “The Minister of Petroleum and Minister of Finance shall within 18 months of the effective date determine the assets, interests, and liabilities of NNPC to be transferred to NNPC Limited or its subsidiaries and upon identification, the Minister shall cause such assets, interests, and liabilities to be transferred to NNPC Limited.”
The House Ad-hoc Committee, established to ascertain the total inventory, assets, interests, and liabilities of the Corporation, said it will meet with the Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited in the coming days.
The Ad-hoc Committee Chairman, Hon Kingsley Chima, who disclosed this after their meeting, said they were also going to interface with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Chima said the Ad-hoc Committee had resolved to request detailed information on NNPC assets, interests, liabilities and up-to-date audited reports from the CEO of NNPC Limited.
“The decision of the House is in sync with the provisions of Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). It is also hinged on the provisions of Section 54 of the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
“The legislative intervention is in alliance with section A 1.03 of the introduction part of the Legislative Agenda of the 9th Assembly (2019 – 2023) which states that, ‘the 9th House will seek to undertake reforms of critical sectors of the Nigerian society and economy to improve the conditions that allow for investment, innovation, and economic growth.’
“Crude oil dominates Nigeria’s economy and accounts for about 86% of export earnings in our country. We have the largest oil and gas reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 37 billion barrels of oil and 188 trillion cubic feet of gas as of July 2021.
“It is depressing that, despite the abundant natural endowment, the oil and gas industry has been plagued with corruption, mismanagement, crisis, environmental degradation, lack of refining capacity, etc.
“Section 54(2) of the Act also stated that any assets, interests, or liabilities not transferred shall remain that of NNPC until extinguished or transferred to the government six months after the determination in section 54(1).
“The Minister of Finance and Attorney General of the Federation shall develop a framework for payment of liabilities not transferred to the NNPC Limited. If the determination and transfer are not done within the stipulated 18 months, the assets, interests, and liabilities are deemed transferred to NNPC Limited,” the chairman stated.
