Nddc Boss Accuses Oil Firms Of Not Paying Accurate Dues To Commission
BEVERLY HILLS, April 08, (THEWILL) – The acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, on Thursday accused all the oil firms operating in the oil-rich region of failing to comply fully with the law as regards their remittances to the commission.
While the NDDC Act requires the oil firms to pay three per cent of their annual budget to the commission to enable it carry out its mandate in the region, Semenitari lamented before the National Assembly joint committee on Niger Delta that the oil firms have from inception been remitting whatever they liked to the commission.
She regretted that the NDDC did not have access to the annual budget of the firms and therefore urged the National Assembly to assist the commission to get the fiscal document from the firms so that the agency would be able to receive the accurate remittances due to it.
In their reaction, representatives of major oil firms operating in the area such as Shell, AGIP, Total, SEPLAT, among others, told the joint committee that they had made their remittances either in dollar or naira to the NDDC up till last year.
The joint committee however took a swipe at the NDDC for converting the dollar remittances from the oil firms into the naira and wondered what exchange rates they used in doing the conversion.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaboshi specifically queried the NDDC boss for reading out the naira value of the dollar remittances of Platform Oil Company.
He directed the NDDC management to interact with the joint committee in order to obtain the correct remittances due to it and confront the oil firms with the fact in order to demand the appropriate payment.
Nwaboshi however harped on the need for the oil firms to respect the laws of the land by ensuring that they pay the accurate funds due to the agency in order to solve the environmental and social crisis affecting the people of the region.