As the investigative hearing into the alleged non-remittance of the revenue from crude oil sales by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) climaxed as the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), denied receiving the $6.0bn as subvention from the parent company, the NNPC.
Responding to questions from the members of the Committee, the managing director, NPDC, Mr. Victor Briggs, categorically stated that subsidiary has never received funds directly from the NNPC for investment purposes.
This contradiction became glaring when Senator Nenadi Usman pointed out that the submission by NPDC logically and grossly contradicted the legal opinion offered by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Muhammed Adoke on the issue of funding.
The NPDC boss had earlier tactfully avoided commenting on the issue of funding in his brief presentation to the Committee until his attention was drawn to the critical issue at stake, which is the question of funding by the NNPC, especially, the $6.0bn which it (NNPC) had claimed at various fora that it was used for reinvestment and development of the subsidiary.
Meanwhile, the AGF has been directed to further study other documents from NNPC, PPPRA, and NPDC to form a concrete opinion on the legality or otherwise and report back to the Committee on March 6, 2014.
