The House of Representatives has directed the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to provide details of all oil production, crude sales, and other activities in the upstream petroleum industry in the country.

The joint sitting of the House Committee on Finance and the Committee on National Planning gave the directive at the ongoing interactive session with key agencies in Abuja on Friday, December 13, 2024.

The interaction is on the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).

The directive was given after a presentation by the NUPRC Executive Commissioner for Economic Regulation & Strategic Planning (ECR&SP), Babajide Fasina.

Fasina was represented by the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, accompanied by some members of the commission.

Fasina told the committee that NUPRC derived its various revenues from oil royalty, gas royalty, concession rental, gas flat penalty, and miscellaneous oil revenues.

This, he said, includes fines and levies, signature bonuses, and renewal of licenses.

He stated that NUPRC got four per cent Cost Of Revenue Collection (CORC) for the total revenue collected on behalf of the federal government.

Fasina added that this was credited directly to the federation account, saying the FAAC credited the four per cent to the commission.

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The NUPRC official said: “The CORC amounted to N114.84 billion in 2023 as against N114.38 billion in 2022.

“The amount released in 2023 includes N2.82 billion for capital expenditure, though N173.77 billion was due as four per cent on the actual collections of N14.34 trillion in 2023.

“The commission also generates revenues internally, such as registration fees, license fees, fines, and recoveries, among others.”

He added that the NUPRC generated N1.44 billion in 2023 compared to N30.08 billion in 2022, noting that this accounted for 1.26% of the total revenue realised in 2023 and 2.62% in 2022, respectively.

Fasina, however, informed the committee that the commission recorded a high expenditure in 2023 compared to 2022 of N11.46 billion, which he said was an increase of 10.83 per cent.

Fasina added: “Personnel cost, which has the largest share, amounting to N82.35 billion, represents 70.19 per cent of the total expenses of N117.33 billion.

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“This followed by overhead costs of N31.63 billion, which accounts for 26.96 billion.”.

He said the commission’s non-tax remittance dropped from N3.67 billion in 2022 to N1.77 billion in 2023 and amortisation and depreciation of N246.66 million and N1.33 billion, respectively.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, who presided over the session, expressed dissatisfaction with the commission’s personnel and overhead expenditure.

“I’m wondering what type of organisation you have. You are paying N88 billion as salaries. How many staff do you have?” Faleke queried.

Ruling on the matter, Faleke said: “You will have to come back with all the records of all the wells that produce the oil, litre by litre, per day. How much oil do we get from here every day?”

The Star