House Committee Uncovers Over N32bn Revenue Leakage at NUPRC

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

In a recent session of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), a staggering revenue leakage of N32,151,775,466.87 has been identified in the documentation submitted by the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). This amount represents missed revenues for the federal government from 2015 to 2022.

The committee, led by Hon. Bamidele Salam, has called for a comprehensive investigation into these financial discrepancies and the management practices of the NUPRC. The members expressed serious concerns over the reported revenue leakages and the organization’s apparent non-compliance with standard operating procedures.

Their findings revealed serious irregularities, including a transfer of N909,392,169.74 directly to private accounts in banks, which violated the Treasury Single Account (TSA) protocols. Furthermore, the committee noted significant inconsistencies: transactions totaling N15,476,269,397.10 appeared in Remita but were missing from the NUPRC records, while N6,332,212,384.25 was documented by NUPRC but not found in Remita.

Additionally, discrepancies between the records of Remita and NUPRC were uncovered, with N388,103,353.31 being reported lower by NUPRC and N909,392,169.74 being reported higher by Remita.

In light of these revelations, the committee has summoned NUPRC’s Chief Executive Officer, Gbenga Komolafe, along with other officials, to appear before them next Monday to provide explanations for these infractions.