Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday said the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is still diverting proceeds from sale of crude oil.

Speaking on the alleged diversion of $5billion by the NNPC and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Saraki said “We must put an end to this type of level of misappropriation and recklessness. This must stop.

“They did it up to the last administration and now they are carrying out the same practice again. We must put an end to this and we cannot continue this issue where some people are sabotaging the efforts to fight corruption.”

The Senate had mandated its Committees on Finance, Petroleum (Downstream) and Petroleum (Upstream) to probe the alleged diversion of $5billion crude oil funds by NNPC and NPDC.

The probe followed a motion sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi), tagged “unlawful and wilful misappropriation and criminal withholding of public revenue by NNPC and NPDC”.

Melaye expressed worry that the two agencies have been carrying out Crude Oil lifting without transparency.

He said since 2013 to date NPDC has continued to lift Crude Oil from divested oil wells OML 61, 62 and 63 worth over $3.487bn without remittance of any nature to the Federation Account;

“The same NPDC has been lifting from divested oil wells OML 65, 111 and 119 to the tune of $1.847bn out of which it paid $100m only.

“While this practice may have started before the present Administration, it has continued under the watch of the new Administration without abating. So much so that in this year alone between January-August, a total of $344.442m worth of oil has been lifted by NPDC without remittance to the Federation Account and also not paying royalties and other taxes on these lifting,” he said.

Daily Trust