No plan to tax petrol, Oyedele clarifies amid controversy
The Senate has rejected conflicting records of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports presented by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
  
It maintained that the huge discrepancies raise serious questions about the integrity of the figures.
 
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has clarified that the Federal Government has no plan to introduce petrol tax next year amid the high cost of living faced by Nigerians.
 
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts had on Tuesday resolved to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPC Ltd and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to explain the differences and reconcile the records.
 
The lawmakers said the investigation could expose suspected irregularities in the reporting of petrol imports into the country.
 
The discrepancies emerged when NMDPRA officials appeared before the committee to respond to queries raised in NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report from 2021 to 2023.
 
NMDPRA chief executive, Rabiu Umar, was represented at the session by a deputy director, Uzoamaka Ugwu-Ojobe.
 
Defending the authority’s figures, Ugwu-Ojobe insisted that its records were credible, despite the significant differences with those submitted by NNPCL.

She said NMDPRA recorded 3.29 billion litres of PMS imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023.
However, NNPCL’s records showed 6.27 billion litres for 2022 and 3.88 billion litres for 2023.
 
“We stand by 3.29 billion litres of PMS as volume imported in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres as volume imported in 2023 against 6.27 billion litres recorded by NNPCL in 2022 and 3.88 billion litres in 2023,” she said.
 
Describing the differences as slight, the NMDPRA representative said the agencies were examining the figures for possible reconciliation.
 
But Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), rejected the explanation, insisting that the discrepancies were too substantial to be dismissed as minor differences.
 
Ningi said the conflicting records were disturbing and required a thorough investigation rather than assurances that the agencies were working towards reconciliation.
 
Dayo Faduyile (APC, Ondo South) also expressed concern, saying the differences left room for suspicion that something might be wrong with the figures.
 
Similarly, Senator Anietan Bassey (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East) demanded a comprehensive investigation to establish the reasons for the discrepancies and protect Nigerians from potential losses.
 
Following the submissions, the committee chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP, Gombe North) rejected the NMDPRA’s defence and resolved to convene a meeting involving the three agencies.
 
The committee’s intervention sets the stage for a joint examination of the records to determine why the agencies reported substantially different volumes of petrol imports for the same periods.
IN a brief statement on his X account yesterday, Oyedele said the Federal Government had no plan to introduce a fuel tax.
  
“In my interview with Arise News, I was clear: a fuel tax is not on the table,” the minister wrote. “In my interview with Arise News, I was clear: a fuel tax is not on the table.”
 
His clarification came amid reports of plans by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to introduce a five per cent tax on retail petroleum products in the country.
 
Millions of Nigerians pay between N1,370 and N1,429 per litre for petrol. The introduction of a fuel tax would mean that Nigerians would have to pay more for petrol.
 
Some of the reports attributed the proposed tax to Oyedele, prompting the minister to clarify his position and explain what he had said during the interview.