The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the 5.2 million barrels of crude oil worth $339m, which was reported to have been unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation under the Direct Sales Direct Purchase plan.

A member of the House, Abubakar Yalleman, moved a motion at the plenary on Wednesday to call for investigation of the DSDP arrangement, which has allegedly led to loss of oil and revenue.

The motion was titled ‘Urgent need to investigate the allocation of crude under the Direct Sale Direct Purchase scheme’.

Following the unanimous adoption of the motion, the House resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate ‘allocation of crude oil under DSDP scheme from 2018 till date, crude oil allocation per refinery and the rationale for such allocation, and what happens to un-utilised stock of crude oil in the case of a refinery with inadequate production capacity’.

Moving the motion, Yalleman referred to a report ‘brought to national attention the unfortunate details of how Nigeria’s crude oil is being stolen or diverted daily’.

The lawmaker quoted the report as saying approximately 5.2 million barrels of crude oil supposedly allocated to comatose NNPC refineries in 2018 under DSDP operations were unaccounted for.

“Essentially, almost half of the 10.9 million barrels of crude oil allocated for domestic supply between June 2018 and July 2019 as reported by the NNPC is either stolen or diverted,” he said.

Yalleman also noted that the average price of Nigerian crude oil in 2018 was $65 per barrel ‘which means that the unaccounted volume may have denied the country $339m at a time of acute revenue deficit’.

He said, “The House is concerned and deeply worried by this report and will like to know the status of the 5.2 million barrels allocated for domestic supply in 2018 till date; crude oil allocation per refineries and the rationale for such allocation. In a case of inadequate production capacity, what happens to unutilised stock of crude oil?

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“The House is acutely worried that at the spate of missing critical national revenue, unless these leakages are plugged, they will deepen the national deficit even further thus depriving the country of the much-needed development.”