By; IYOKPO J. EGBODO, Abuja
The House of Representatives has invited the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) over alleged shortchange in Nigeria National Petroleum Company”s (NNPC’s) agreements with oil firms.
He is expected to appear before an Ad-hoc Committee investigating Joint Ventures and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) of the NNPC Limited since 1990.
Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee Hon.Abubakar Fulata issued the summon at an investigative hearing on Tuesday.
Fulata who dismissed representatives of some major oil operating companies who appeared to defend the position of their Chief Executive Officers, decried that many joint venture agreements and production sharing contracts entered into by the NNPC were not executed.
He also lamented that most of the oil companies use foreign currencies for the exchange of goods and services as against the prevailing local currencies and charged the invited stakeholders to reverse the trend.
On the issue under investigation he he berated some CEOs of the invited agencies and companies for not honouring the House panel with their presence adding that representation by their surbordinates is unacceptable.
The lawmaker said that there are so many reports that Nigeria had been shortchanged by these multinational oil companies on these joint ventures and production sharing contracts by NNPC.
A member of the House panel Hon Benjamin Kalu also called for greater accountability on these agreements by the NNPC so that the nation’s oil sector can continue to contribute to economic growth.
