The Nigerian House of Representatives is to provide an accountability mechanism to ensure that National Resources are administered more effectively and fairly for the good of the citizens.
Speaker of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila made the disclosure at a public hearing on the need to recover outstanding debt owed to the Nigerian government by oil and gas companies operating in the country.
Mr. Gbajabiamila who reiterated the House Commitment to using legislative instruments to ensure transparency and accountability in managing public resources said the House will not hesitate in evoking relevant legislative authority on any stakeholder that failed to cooperate in the exercise.
He said “The 9th House of Representatives in our legislative agenda committed to using the instruments of legislative authority to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of our nation’s resources. For us in the House, beyond recovering the debts owed to the Federal Government of Nigeria, we intend to put in place accountability mechanisms to ensure that, going forward, our national resources are administered more efficiently and fairly. The outcome of this public hearing will inform our actions in this regard.”
The Speaker explained that the alleged amount owed by seventy-seven oil and gas companies will address long developmental challenges, improve revenue and reduce borrowing to bridge the budget deficit.
“When the country is confronting significant revenue shortages, coupled with an overwhelming need to address longstanding developmental challenges, there is a greater obligation on the government to do all that is necessary to recover these sums.” Mr. Gbajabiamila added.
The Chairman of the adhoc Committee on the recovery and Deputy Chief Whip, Nkiruka Onyejeocha said the committee is ever ready to work with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, and ensure that all outstanding debt are paid to government coffers.
“Being a responsible and responsive parliament we considered this debt as too huge to be overlooked, particularly at the critical period when our government is in serious need of revenue to fund annual budget and meet other social obligation to the citizens.” Onyejeocha stressed.
In their separate submissions, the NEITI and the Federal Inland Revenue Service confirmed the allegation saying that already some of the indicted companies have initiated process to pay off the debt.
A report of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative indicted Seventy-Seven oil and gas companies owning the Nigerian government over N2.6trillion about $6.2billion in royalties, charges and taxes.
Dominica Nwabufo
