The division of labour among the three arms of government is clear. The legislature is meant to make and pass laws while the executive branch of government is supposed to implement the laws. But in Nigeria, the democratic experience seems to be running on half steam. Now, the House of Representatives is dabbling into a controversial area. Its Committee on Oil and Gas has given ten indigenous oil companies in the country two weeks to remit 250 million dollars oil royalty to federal government’s coffers.
Reports said the Chairman of the Committee, Jerigbe Agom, gave the ultimatum at the sitting over unremitted funds in the industry. According to the Committee Chairman, Nigeria can no longer condone the companies’ haphazard acts capable of weakening the nation’s oil and gas sector. He listed the companies as Aiteo Group, Dubri Oil Limited, Atlas Energy, Frontier Oil Limited, Oriental Energy Limited, Express Petroleum, WalterSmith Oil Limited and Neconde Group.
Mr. Agom warned that the committee would sanction the companies that refuse to meet the deadline as part of its mandate to ensure sanity in the nation’s oil and gas industry. Meanwhile, members of the committee said the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, was not proactive enough to ensure that indigenous oil companies complied with rules in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
They wondered why the regulatory body could not take action against the oil companies that failed to pay their royalties when evidence was clear that they owed the government. They also accused gas companies in the country of not revealing the accurate figures of the quantity of gas produced and flared. The legislators resolved to pay on-site visit to the gas companies at a later date, to crosscheck claims of their gas production and flare.
But the Managing Director, Frontier Oil Ltd., Dada Thomas, however, said most of the affected companies got the invitation very late.
Mr. Thomas complained of the harsh business environment such as the high cost of production and interest rate which also explained why owners of marginal fields in the country could not operate the fields. According to him, the government has no reason to grant them requisite tax holidays with a view to boosting their business and opening the nation’s oil and gas sector for investment prospects.
