Subsidy payments investigation: No record of 23 oil companies trading between 2013/2022, CAC tells Reps
… Companies found culpable should be sanctioned appropriately — Madaki
By Uthman Salami and Ariemu Ogaga
Profiles of oil companies trading in Nigeria between 2013 to 2022 are not known, the Corporate Affairs Commission revealed this to the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating subsidy regime payments yesterday.
The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Mustapha Ibrahim Aliyu who read a list containing the names of the individual companies explained that a communication from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the request of the committee came back without any information on the affected companies.
Analyst who spoke exclusively with Nigerian NewsDirect posited that questions must be asked, noting that any company found culpable should be dealt with approximately.
Furthering the committee’s mandate to expedite the investigation, the Chairman of the committee, Aliyu said the Committee will write to the embassies of the companies’ countries of origin which he said were mostly expatriates to provide the details of the profiles, just as he said that the NNPC has some explaining to do on the status of the said companies.
The letter with Ref. RGO/SU/VOL.5/2022/0248 dated 13TH July, 2022 signed by Maimunat Hamu on behalf of Registrar-General, read, “Kindly refer to your letter Ref: NASS/QHR/AHC/PPSRIM1/1H/01/051 dated 1st July, 2022 on the subject matter above.
“Please be informed that we could not readily find information on the exact names of the following companies as provided in our record.
“Emadeb Consortium; Britania-U Nig. Limited; Totsa Total Oil Tradings SA; Petroleum Trading Nigeria Limited; Mocoh S.A; Socer Worldwide; Calson Bermuda Ltd; Hyson; Litasco S.A; Mercuria Energy; Cepsa Lubricant; Trafigura Pte; Vitol S.A; Ocanbed Trading Limited; Bonno Energy; West Africa Gas Limited; Petrogas; Matrix; Masters Energy; Amg; Barbados; Hindustan and Patermina.
“However, you may wish to provide the registration numbers or any other available documents at your disposal to enable us to investigate further.
“Kindly accept assurances of the Registrar General’s highest regards,” the CAC letter noted.
In the same vein, another letter with Ref: NASS/9HR/AHC/PPSR/14/iH/01/051 dated 1st July, 2022 and our previous response with Ref RGO/SU/VOL.5/2022/0248 dated Wednesday 133 July, 2022 on the subject matter also read by the Chairman had names of other oil companies who were to appear before the committee.
“Please find attached five copies each of certified true documents and a flash drive in respect of the following companies,” the letter read.
They included Heyden Petroleum Limited RC: 433175; Graton Oil Limited KC: 644074; Duke Oil And Gas. Limited RC; 64456145; Matrix Energy Limited RC: 612026; MRS Companies Limited RC: 241,013; Sahara Trade Nigeria Limited RC: 352,443; Essar Exploration And Production Limited RC: 692910; Sahara Group Limited RC: 668626; Rainoil Limited RC: 257,444; Casiva Limited RC: 1091598; Petroleum Trading And Supplies Company Limited RC: 506113; Napo Oil Limited RC: 333,354; Calson (Nigeria) Limited RC: 121, 474; A. A. Rano Nigeria Limited RC: 399320; JKR Maritime Oil & Gas Limited RC: 1166636; BP Oil development & Energy Services Limited RC: 1506132; A.A Rano Lubes Limited RC: 1531528; Starco Energy Trading Nig Ltd RC: 1135491; A.Y. Maikifi Oil & Gas Company Ltd RC: 973914;The Shell Petroleum Development Company Of Nigeria Limited RC: 892; Oando Oil Limited RC: 427325; A.Y.M. Shafa Limited RC: 296,875
“We shall revert to you on the following companies as soon as we conclude our findings: Hyde Energy; Varo Energy; Eni-Trading; Levene Energy
“We could not readily find information on the exact name Petroleum & Gas Company Ltd in our record. However, you may wish to provide the registration number or any other available document at your disposal to enable us to investigate further.
“Kindly accept assurances of the Registrar General’s highest regards. Yours, faithfully, Maimunat Hamu. For: Registrar-General,’’the letter read.
Reacting to the revelation, Hon. Aliyu said there will be questions to answer.
“This Committee wrote to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) requesting the commission to avail it of information on the following companies, about 57 companies. The commission wrote as follows; I read two letters that they have sent to us.
“I will (would) like to direct the NNPC to provide a detailed profile of these companies. At this juncture, I say that all those companies that were invited to appear before this Committee should make their profile as part of their submission.
“And take this to be part of the requirements for submission before this honourable committee. Those companies the commission couldn’t find their profile, they will have a lot of questions to answer particularly, NNPC.
“This Committee will also write to their commercial desks of their various embassies if they are expatriates so that we can have full data on them,” he said.
Companies found culpable should be sanctioned appropriately — Madaki
Reacting to the development on Wednesday, an oil and gas expert and Managing Partner, BBH Consulting, Barr. Ameh Madaki said if the Committee is true, the alleged companies should be sanctioned appropriately.
“By law, companies doing business in Nigeria are required to be incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission. So if they are not, that would be a breach of the law which should attract appropriate sanctions.
“The Committee should however aim to be thorough in their work so that whatever report they come up with will be implementable.
“They should refrain from sensationalism like previous committees which have been set up by the National Assembly in the past for the same issue,” he stated.
