The heated confrontation that almost stopped the entire process reared its head when the Minister of Petroleum( Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri disclosed that there was an agreement at the Ministry that the Minister of Petroleum (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo should be the one to present the budget before the joint Committee of Petroleum Resources of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has vowed to take all necessary measures to curb incidents of explosions in the petroleum sector, while reaffirming its commitment to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a long-term solution for cleaner energy.
The Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo who disclosed this before a joint committee on petroleum resources during the 2025 budget Defence session, said that as part of efforts to support midstream and downstream infrastructure development, the government has released 222 billion naira to six companies towards mitigating the impact of CNG adoption and ensuring its dissemination across all states in the federation.
This is as the total Budget Proposals for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for 2025 as provided in the Envelop is N4,251,864,093.09. Personnel is N1,656,172,387.09, Overhead is N1,692,043,445.00, Total Recurrent is N3,348,215,832.09 while Capital is N903,648,261.00
The heated session during the budget took an unexpected turn as soon as Ekpo started his presentation when there were shouts from lawmakers in the hall, room 117, venue of the event,
complaining that they were not with the documents the minister was reading which was a new development against the backdrop that the lawmakers ought to have been provided with the documents prior to the physical appearance.
Not happy with the development, the former House leader
and Chairman, House Committee, Upstream, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, representing Doguwa/ Tudun Wada Federal Constituency who was the first to attack Lokpobiri said, “Senator, I want to tell you that as chairs house committee on petroleum upstream am. Seeing you once in year. And that is not how to collaborate and work together you are making our work difficult. We are being held responsible for what we don’t know, we should cancel this if you are not ready.”
Choruses of we should stop the event erupted, even as the Chairman of the joint Committee, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, PDP, Cross River North tried to calm down the lawmakers
At this point, Lokpobiri who apologized to the members, said, “Distinguished Senators and all of our members of the House of Representatives, sorry for the mix-up. It is not intended at all. It is not deliberate. What is happening is not deliberate at all. And I’ve been told by the directors in charge of budget that the documents are right in the National Assembly, and that they are bringing them.
So please, first of all, let me apologize that we will never do anything deliberately. We’re human beings. I mean, we could, by either commission or mission, do certain things that may not be in the best interest of you know, everybody, but it can never be deliberate. We will never.
“There’s only one institution that we belong to. Throughout my life, I’ve been a parliamentarian from 1999 until today. Save for 2015 to 2019 when I was Minister of State Agriculture. This is where I belong to. And I will never do anything, you know, to deliberately disrespect this institution.
“So, I want to specifically apologize to all of you, and in particular to my chairman, Upstream House of Reps, who is my friend, that I’m very sorry for whatever mix-up that’s going on. But having said that, if you could allow us a few minutes, I believe that we’ll be able to bring the Ghana must go here. There is no money oo, but at least, the documents are here so that the press will not say that we are bringing money to you. These are the documents that, you know. The documents are just coming. So, I sincerely apologize.”
Again, the angered Doguwa responded, saying, “Honourable Minister, I thank you for presenting that apology, but I would like to, on behalf of the leadership of this joint session, further state that while it is human to commit an error, it is also human to present an apology like you did.
“On our own part, we have no problem accepting your apologies, but the fact is that we cannot be apologetic in the discharge of our constitutional duties as lawmakers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially on a matter like this one, which is to do with appropriation of public funds. We can’t be apologetic, and I appreciate the fact that both of you are members of this institution for life.
“The Honourable Minister Gas was in the House of Representatives. You have been in the Senate for quite a long time, and we feel you should not only be our ambassadors by word of mouth. You must have to be our ambassadors out there and in here by word of mouth and by action.
“I want to ask very respectfully, Mr. Minister, is it in accordance with our procedure to receive documents on budget presentation on the very minute that we are considering the budget and you are defending it? No. In the letters? In the letters we have written to all the ministries, we have specified through our class that these documents are supposed to be submitted to us at least 48 hours before now, and they are being presented just now. So that’s our concern.
“We can understand ourselves as human beings, but when it comes to the issue of discharging our duties where people lay their expectations and hopes on us, we have to do it discreetly.
“Honourable Minister, please, I am putting this on record for the future. Because you still have two more budgets to present here. If we should continue in the manner we are doing, then definitely we cannot be on the same page.”
At the end of the hullabaloo, Ekperikpe Ekpo saying, “We need to cover the entire federation before the transition to CNG can be effective, addressing climate change requires us to embrace cleaner energy utilization. The global conversation is focused on energy transition, and in Nigeria, we have an abundance of gas that we will leverage.”
He again notes that the government’s focus on CNG aligns with its broader strategy to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable energy practices.
According to the budget proposal, Internally Generated Revenue, IGR Budget of N40,000,000 is proposed for 2025 IGR for the Ministry from Tender Fees; proceed from the sale of Government Properties; Registration fees and promote share from PPP in Nigeria International Energy Summit( NIES).
On the 2024 budget performance, the Minister on Personnel, said that 2024 Amended Appropriation-was 1,062,528,852.00, what was released from Jan 31 Dec. 2024 stood at 1,061,128,842.00, balance on Appropriation- 1,400,010.00, percentage of Release on Appropriation was 99.87%, percentage of Balance on Appropriation was 00.13%.
On Overhead , 2024 Appropriation was 3,180,645,960.00, Release from Jan 23rd Dec 2024-
2,915,592,130.00, Balance on Appropriation- 265,053,830.00, Percentage of Release on Appropriation- 91.67%, Percentage of Balance on Appropriation- 08.33%.
On Capital, 2024 Appropriation was 5,667,869,019.00, Release from Jan.23rd Dec. 2024- 1,899,078,486.48; Balance on Appropriation- 3,768,790,532.52, Percentage of Release on Appropriation- 33.51% and Percentage of Balance on Appropriation- 66.49%.
According to the Minister, notable achievements include the following: Oil and Gas Sector Reforms, just as he said that on Modular development programme, “The focus for the modular refineries and other refineries such as Port-Harcourt Refinery, Dangote Refinery and Condensate Refinery was geared towards promoting the availability of petroleum products in the country as well as stimulating socio-economic development in the Niger Delta region to arrest restiveness in the Niger Delta region.
“The government envisages amongst others, a business model for modular refinery establishment that shall be private-sector led partnership with equity participation from the state government or its agencies, registered local cooperative societies and the integration of majority equity as well as operate the Joint Venture. Implementation of the approved Recommendations of modular Refinery Committees,
“Development of homegrown solutions for in-country refining in Nigeria and subsequently ensure the country’s energy security, economic growth, and reduced dependence on imported petroleum products. ‘Development of a National Oil and Gas Production Economic Model. The project was conceived to assist the Ministry and other relevant agencies in forecasting, planning, predicting and evaluating the planned use of net asset values as basis for lease grants and renewals, marginal field offers, consent fees and sign on/signature bonuses among other needs. The tool will also enable the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to efficiently test efficiently test varying scenarios and their impact on government revenue and choose the option that gives the maximum benefit to the Federation from our oil and gas assets.”
SOURCE: VANGUARD
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