The Senate on Tuesday resolved to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over the N8.4 trillion it allegedly withheld as expenditure incurred on payment of subsidies on petroleum products.

The red chamber also said it would probe another sum of N3.6 trillion which the company allegedly failed to remit as taxes into the federation account.

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had made a presentation to the Joint Senate Committees on Finance and National Planning and Economic Affairs last week, alleging that the NNPCL withheld N8.4tn it ought to have remitted to the government as “claimed subsidies on petrol.”

Another report by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) also accused the NNPCL of failing to remit N3.6 trillion in taxes to the government.

During plenary on Tuesday, the Senate resolved that NNPCL must be probed to provide answers to what happened to the ‘withheld’ N8.4 trillion and the unpaid taxes, explaining that this was necessary for a government seeking funds to finance its N47.9 trillion budget for the 2025 fiscal year.

The plenary, which was presided over by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, mandated the Joint Senate Committees on Finance, Petroleum Upstream, and Petroleum Downstream to carry out the probe.

“The committees are further directed to verify the total cumulative amount of unremitted revenue (under-recovery) from the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the NNPC between 2020 and 2023,” the Senate resolved after a debate onthe matter. (Daily Trust)