ABUJA – The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) had lambasted the Executive Secretary Mr Waziri Adio and directors of the agency over what was described as non disclosure of total output of the oil industry, during investigation hearing on audited accounts.
Hon. Sariki Adar Chairman of the Committee and other Committee members have expressed reservations and disappointed over the 2020 Audit Report of Oil and Gas Industries by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative NEITI.
Hon. Adar said that many of the agency’s audit reports on oil and gas industries were not reflective of the output of oil sector players and that they were not released to the appropriate authorities when it was needed.
The lawmakers had queried why N109 million released to the agency in 2019 budget was not utilized as only N47 million was expended and the balance not returned to the treasury.
The lawmakers also appealed to the agency to ensure that staffing in the agency reflects the federal character principles to engender national cohesion
However the Executive Secretary told the lawmakers that the agency is grossly understaffed as it has only 48 staff who were recruited in 2010
On the revenue profile of the agency, he said that it generated N109 million between January and June 2020 and added that the total sum of N335bn was approved for it in the 2020 Appropriation Act by the National Assembly.
He informed the committee that many of the states of the federation do not have office due to shortage of staff of the agency adding that most of them are political appointees.
