Fuel subsidy: Importers to defend N1.43tn received

Oil companies that benefited from the N1.43tn 2011 fuel subsidy payments will next week appear before the Senate to defend the amounts they were paid.On Friday, the Senate Joint Committee investigating the fuel subsidy came out with a list of over 100 fuel importers who allegedly received huge sums of money as subsidies.The committee had claimed that it discovered that about 73 of the companies did not qualify to participate in the process since they had no depots or tank farms as required by the guidelines.There was also the inclusion of construction companies which were paid the subsidy, a development that was queried by the committee, but for which no answers were provided by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Magnus Abe, told our correspondent on Sunday that it had yet to reach any conclusion on what to do with the companies involved.According to him, it would only be fair to give the said beneficiaries a chance to defend themselves before bringing them to judgment.He said, We cannot judge anybody when we have not heard from them. We have to hear from them before we reach any conclusion.People are of the view that because of the investments in the subsidy we should have some more benefits that we have now, so we will give them a chance to tell their own side of the story.We as a committee have promised that we will be fair to all and get to the bottom of the issues. So we are ready to do a thorough job.Some of the oil companies mentioned by the committee to have received subsidy included Oando Nigerian Plc, which received N228.506bn; MRS Ltd, N224.818 bn; Enak Oil & Gas, N19.684bn; Conoil , N37.960bn; Bovas & Co. Nig. Ltd, N5.685bn; and Obat, N85bn.Also, Integrated Oil and Gas, which has former Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho (retd.), as a principal player, allegedly received a total of N30.777bn in 2011, while IPMAN Investment Ltd got N10.9 bn.Others include Africa Petroleum Plc, which allegedly got N104.83 bn; AMP Petro-energy, N11.4 bn; Akor Plc, N24.11 bn; A.Z Petroleum, N18.13 bn; Capital Oil, N22.42 bn and Dozie Oil and Gas, N3.37 bn.The list also include Mobil Oil Plc, N18.60 bn; Matrix Energy, N12.612 bn; Ford Oil, N8.502 bn; North West Petroleum and Gas, N46.27 bn; NIPCO Plc, N23.2 bn; Ontario Oil, N4.9 bn; Origin Oil and Gas, N2.69 bn; and Ocean Energy, N1.77 bn.
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