The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) failed to account for $15.9 billion oil proceeds it received on behalf of the Nigerian government.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Executive Secretary of NIETI, Waziri Adio, at the ongoing probe by the House of Representatives ad-hoc panel investigating alleged losses of $17bn oil proceeds.

Adio also revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could not also account for $21bn oil proceeds.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas who put the executive Secretary on the spot, demanded to know the facts of things.

He said: “The country is losing huge revenue to oil theft. There are many things that must be looked into with a view of taking adequate measures.

“NLNG got $15.9b as dividends as Nigeria’s returns for its 49 percent equity in NLNG. The dividend was collected by the NLNG but was not found in the Federation Account. Certainly we need to ask questions,” he said.

Namdas stressed the Committee needed to be more clinical as the $15.8b lost to theft and vandalism was likely to be part of the $17b being investigated.

A breakdown of losses incurred from crude lifting alone showed that a total of 385 million barrels was lost in 2011; 402 million barrels in 2012; 363 million barrels in 2013 and another 342 million barrels in 2014.

The lawmaker lamented the absence of a comprehensive mechanism for monitoring and evaluating actual oil lifted on the loading platforms in the country.