Economy
Senate Uncovers N10tr Fraud in NNPC
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An alleged fraud of about N10 trillion in the oil and gas sector has been unearthed by the Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream, Upstream) and Gas.
According to the committee, the alleged fraud was perpetrated by officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in connivance with some independent marketers and other key players in the petroleum industry between 2006 and 2016.
To get to the root of this mess, the committee said it would carry out a holistic investigation of the fraud with a view to bringing perpetrators to book, having secured the strong support of President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the Senate.
Addressing newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, the committee said available records before it showed that during the period under investigation, NNPC imported fuel that was more than 40 percent of the local consumption besides the perceived gross underutilisation of 445,000 barrels it allegedly received for local refining and local consumption on yearly basis.
At the briefing, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Mr Kabiru Marafa, noted that N5.2 trillion of the entire sum was traceable to NNPC which he said was collected by the corporation as subsidy from the Federal Government for the importation of petroleum products, notably between 2006 and 2016.
He said the amount excluded monies realisable from the 445,000 barrels of crude oil allocated to it annually for production in the nation’s refineries for local consumption.
According to him, NNPC, being the custodian of crude oil resources of the nation, responsible for 51 percent of petroleum products’ importation into the country over the years, aside the 445,000 crude allocation it gives itself on a yearly basis for sales for local refining, must account for the N5.2trillion.
“Available records show that it has spent on subsidy on its own, 51 percent of petroleum products importation between 2006 and 2016 aside the N3.8 trillion spent on similar subsidy for independent marketers and about $1.5 billion yet to be accounted for by other key players in the industry,” Mr Marafa said.
The lawmaker stated further that the committee had discovered how oil marketers fraudulently evacuated petroleum products from storage leased by NNPC without any sense of accountability, pointing out that at least 100 million litres of petrol worth N14 billion had been stolen by two different oil companies without any sanction imposed on them by the NNPC.
He, therefore, ordered the NNPC to sanction the affected companies this week or face huge embarrassment following the expose.
“This committee has established the missing of 100 million litres of PMS from such storage arrangement.
“We expected NNPC to have taken action against the two companies that carried out the theft but since it has not, we hereby order it to do so immediately, precisely within this week, failure of which we shall make the whole details known to the public,” he threatened.
Mr Marafa also threatened that all the key players in the sector along with their collaborators who had taken the country for a ride during the period under review must be brought to book, explaining that the fraud was largely perpetrated during the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and partly during the current administration of Buhari.
“President Buhari is highly supportive of this move by the Senate and we shall not fail in carrying out the needed holistic investigation on obvious sharp practices in the sector. Needed documents for the onerous task are already in our possession,” he said.
Against this background, he said a three-day public hearing would soon be conducted by the committee as he listed those expected at the hearing to include: present and past executives of NNPC, independent marketers, heads of Licenced Inspection Agency, Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service, and NIMASA, among others.
The lawmaker said that the whistle blower approach being adopted by the executive to unravel fraudulent practices of corrupt public officials would also be used to fish out those involved in the oil sector’s massive fraud.
He said the committee would ensure that strict sanctions were imposed on players in the sector who might attempt to frustrate the investigation by failing to co-operate with the committee during its investigation.
Additional information from ThisDay.
By Adedapo Adesanya
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
