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Fuel Crisis: NNPC Sinks $5.8bn On Petrol Importation
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it spent about 5.8 billion dollars to import Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol to combat fuel crisis that resurfaced since late last year.
In a statement signed by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs unit in Abuja, yesterday, it said the PMS was equivalent of 9.8 million metric tons.
According to the statement, the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikant iBaru, disclosed this during a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts at the National Assembly in Abuja.
Represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Finance and Accounts, Mr. AbdulrazaqIsiaka, he said that the corporation carried out the massive importation in fulfilment of its statutory role of supplier of last resort.
This, he said was to ensure that Nigerians do not suffer as a result of product unavailability. The GMD in the statement noted the corporation’s provision of 9.8 million metric tons of petrol so far had helped a great deal in ameliorating the suffering of Nigerians.
He said the corporation’s intervention became necessary following the inability of the major and independent marketers to import the product.
He pointed out that cross-border smuggling due to price disparity between Nigeria and neighbouring countries as well as logistic issues in trucking products to different locations across the country remained serious challenges in the quest for fuel queue-free situation in the country.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Uroghide noted that the public hearing was a part of the Committee’s duty to find lasting solutions to the problem of fuel scarcity in order to make life easy for all Nigerians.
Meanwhile, the Senate, yesterday, mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to investigate the rationale behind a security account allegedly operated by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Sen. Dino Melaye (Kogi-APC).
Moving the motion, Melaye said there was the need for the Senate to unravel the objective of the account and source of its funding.
He alleged that the account opened with the name NNPC/AGIP Oil Company IPP Security Account with address NNPC Garki, Harbert Macauley way, is domiciled in First Bank Nigeria Plc with account number 2006367288.
Melaye alleged that the account had an opening balance of N31.7billion and a closing balance of N34.5billion as at April 25, 2017, adding that there were lodgements and withdrawals since January, 2017.
“A lot of questions are begging for answers as regards this account.
“While we need to know the objectives of this account, we also need to know the signatories to the account; is the account known to the Federal Government and what are the sources of the account’s funding?
“About N2trillion is kept in various accounts of government, we are operating a Treasury Single Account yet money is kept in various personal accounts.
“If these monies are properly remitted to government purse, we will have no business borrowing.
“This Senate will continue to expose any corrupt practice in the country because it is time to protect the future of Nigerians unborn,” Melaye said.
The committee has four weeks within which to carry out its investigation.
Meanwhile, the ad-hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives, yesterday, commenced investigations into the incessant killings in Nigeria.
Addressing journalists on their approach, Chairman of the committee, Rep Pally Iriase (PDP, Edo) said the committee of seven lawmakers was going to be bi-partisan in their approach.
He said “We formally commenced our investigations today and we will use a three prong approach via interaction with security chiefs, interface with foreign partners and conduct public hearing.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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