Reps Reject NNPCL’s OVH Acquisition Report

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.

Hassan Abubakar Nalaraba-led committee’s report was discarded after it was debated at plenary on Tuesday due to fresh evidence, which emerged that the exercise was not properly conducted.

The House was shocked to receive documents written by a foreigner, Huub Stoke man, who is the MD of NNPCL Retail and former MD of OVH, the company that was acquired by NNPCL, wherein he requested the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to renew the licence of the same company, even before the acquisition.Also, the House ordered that the entire acquisition transactions be thoroughly reviewed with details and terms of the acquisition agreement, the financials and valuation reports scrutinised to ensure that Nigeria was not shortchanged in any way.

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

It will be recalled 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 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.