Senate Threatens to Involve EFCC to Recover N135 Billion CBN Loan

The Senate has threatened to involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in recovering the Central Bank of Nigeria's intervention loan of N135 billion that was given to 15 oil and gas companies.

This warning came from the Senate Committee on Gas Resources when the oil and gas firms appeared before the House to account for how they utilized the loan given to them by the CBN. The CBN's Nigeria Gas Expansion Program intervention disbursed the loan.

More Details on The Loan Disbursement 

Jarigbe said Nipco Gas Ltd obtained N25 billion (N25,000,000,000.00), Nipco Plc got N5 billion (N5,000,000,000.00), Hyde Energy Ltd received N2 billion (N2,000,000,000.00), and Lee Engineering And Construction Company got N15 billion (N15,000,000,000.00) from the gas expansion intervention fund.

Others are Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE, which received N10 billion (N10,000,000,000.00), Transit Gas Limited, which got N8 billion (N8,000,000,000.00), Amalgamated Oil Company Nig Ltd. (AMOCON), which obtained N5 billion (N5,000,000,000.00) and Gas Nexus Ltd., which received N10 billion (N10,000,000,000.00).

First Modular Gas Systems Limited secured N4.3 billion (N4,300,000,000.00), Novagas Limited got N1 billion (N1,000,000,000.00), Greenville Liquified Natural Gas Company received N10 billion (N10,000,000,000.00) and AP LPG Limited had N8 billion (N8,000,000,000.00).

Dangote Oil Refinery received N5 billion (N5,000,000,000.00), Delta State Government got N20 billion (N20,000,000,000.00), and Mob Integrated Services Limited obtained N2.5 billion (N2,500,000,000.00) from the gas expansion intervention fund.

Jarignbe said that some of the oil and gas companies should have utilized the funds for the purpose they were obtained.

The Committee Chairman said it would not hesitate to involve the anti-corruption agencies to forcefully retrieve the funds from companies that fail to utilize them appropriately.

He said,

• The committee's task is to ensure that the companies spend the funds on what they collect them for.

• The committee's observation is that there are inconsistencies in the process, and the committee may be quick to involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to recover the fund.

Jarignbe said that some companies needed to follow the guidelines and standard procedures before obtaining the loan.

He added,

• Some of the beneficiaries needed to follow the guidelines. For instance, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources must know the funds have been released.

• The guidelines stated clearly and without ambiguity that they are supposed to evaluate the ministry before the list of qualified ones is sent to the CBN for them to access the loans, but that needs to be done correctly.

• We have also discovered that some companies have not had anything on the ground since they got the loan.

• The committee would investigate all the observations, work on them, and let Nigerians know the proper position.