A Nigerian House of Representatives ad-hoc committee has queried the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over payments of royalties, application fees and signature bonuses associated with Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs) and Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) awarded to some oil companies by the Federal Government.

The committee headed by Gideon Gwani, was set up by the House of Reps to determine whether due process was followed in the transactions of oil and gas assets. The panel during an investigative hearing in Abuja on Monday said that there were different claims on the payments which directly affected the apex bank.

According to the panel, while the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) claimed in its documents that Conoil, which was granted OPL 257 paid the sum of $100 million, other documents from the Minister of Justice and Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, revealed that the same amount was missing.

“There are several contradictions contained in the document submitted to us by DPR and AGF. We must get to root of this matter that is why we asked the CBN to provide us with the statement of accounts of the DPR, so we can be sure we got the right document from DPR,” Diri Duoye, a member of the committee told Daily Trust.

Anita Fatunji