The House of Representatives has raised eyebrows over alleged silence on the revenues generated by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited and has asked the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to provide the details.

The Federal Government controls 49 per cent share in the NLNG, which was incorporated in 1989. The government’s share is held by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

However, the House Committee on Finance in its 50 questions on “state of the economy” to the Okonjo-Iweala, said it had no information on the operations of the company and directed the minister to provide the details.

The PUNCH is in possession of a copy of the list of 50 questions, which the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Abdulmumini Jibrin, handed over to the minister in Abuja.

Question 33 on the list dealt with the NLNG, where the committee directed thus, “Provide details of government’s stake in the NLNG.

“All categories of revenue under the NLNG and the total amount generated so far and evidence of remittances.”

She was also asked to provide information on the revenue performance of the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, Federal Inland Revenue and the Nigerian Customs Service for the years 2011-2013.

The committee took Okonjo-Iweala to task over the failure of government to build the country’s foreign reserve to $50bn by the end of the year as she had promised.

Similarly, it observed that the Excess Crude Account had been depleted to about $3bn from $9bn, contrary to the minister’s promise to grow the account to $10bn.

The question on foreign reserve and excess crude, reads, “This time last year you informed this committee that our external reserve position was about $48bn and the balance in our excess crude account was about $9bn.

“You also said that the plan was to grow these balances to about $50bn and $10bn respectively.

“However, we are hearing that the balances have dropped to $43bn and $3bn respectively. And you are saying all is well?”

In answering the question, the committee said the minister should explain whether the nine per cent shortfall in crude oil projection for 2013 could be the reason for the dwindling reserves.

“Crude oil projections for 2013 were 2.53million barrels per day, while actual figures supplied by the NNPC/DPR/MTEF have averaged about 2.3m barrels per day, giving a shortfall of about 9 per cent.

“Could this alone have caused such a drastic reduction in our reserves and savings positions?” the committee asked.

The minister’s responses to the questions are expected to be presented to the committee in January when lawmakers reconvene after the Christmas/New Year break.

credits: punchng