House of Representatives Rejects NNPCL’s OVH Acquisition Report, Orders Fresh Investigation

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, turned down the report of its Ad-hoc Committee that investigated the alleged irregularities and corruption in the acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

The House ordered a fresh probe into the matter, citing new evidence and concerns about the process.

The House of Representatives was shocked to receive documents written by a foreigner, Huub Stokeman, who is the MD of NNPCL Retail and former MD of the OVH company that was acquired by the same NNPCL, wherein he requested NMDPRA to renew the licence of the same OVH company which NNPCL has acquired in the name of the company even before the acquisition, a conflict of interest situation that has raised serious suspicion and requires lawmakers to find out how a company that was acquired two years ago has not merged completely while the MD of the acquired company is now the MD of the NNPCL Retail that acquired them.

Consequently, the House mandated its Standing Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), chaired by Hon. Barr. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, to conduct a forensic investigation into the acquisition deal running into hundreds of billions of Naira and report back to the House for immediate action.

Recall that the House had in July last year asked the NNPCL to suspend the acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing after deliberating on a motion by Hon. Miriam Onuoha and other lawmakers on the “need to investigate the irregularities and alleged corruption in the Nigerian energy security provider, NNPC Retail Limited and the acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing.”

The House also noticed that there were many grey areas that needed to be cleared to determine if the NNPCL breached any known law in the investigation.

The House wants a determination of the value of the assets acquired in view of evidence that some of the assets acquired where either bloated or do not belong to the OVH company as some were alleged to be on lease.

With the recent developments, the House of Representatives has decided to take a closer look at the acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing by the NNPCL and ensure that the process was transparent and in line with the law.

The fresh investigation is expected to shed light on the alleged irregularities and corruption and provide recommendations for the way forward.