Dangote Refinery responds as Senate threatens to report 13 oil companies to EFCC over N135bn loan

A Senate Committee threatened on Thursday, November 30, 2023, to report some oil firms to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) if they are found to have misappropriated the N135 billion intervention loan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas Resources, Agom Jarigbe, issued the threat when the companies appeared before the panel to explain how the loans were used.

List of companies indicted by Senate

The CBN disbursed the N135 billion loan to 15 oil and gas firms under the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme.

Jarigbe listed the beneficiary firms, including:

NIPCO Gas Ltd: N25 billion loan,

NIPCO Plc: N5 billion

Hyde Energy Ltd: N2 billion

Lee Engineering and Construction Company: N15 billion

Pinnacle Oil And Gas Fze: N10 billion

Transit Gas Limited: N8 billion

Amalgamated Oil Company Nig Ltd: N5 billion

Gas Nexus Ltd: N10 billion

First Modular Gas Systems Limited: N4.3 billion

Novagas Limited: N1 billion

Greenville Liquified Natural Gas Company: N10 billion

AP LPG Limited: N8 billion

Senate threatens to invite EFCC to probe the firms

The representative of Dangote Refinery, Tony Chiejina debunked the claim that the refinery misappropriated the funds.

He said: Is it N5 billion that will be used to build a refinery? People should wait until the Senate concludes their investigation. The company did not divert any funds.

Premium Times reports that Jarigbe said committee members have seen that some of the firms have misappropriated the funds.

He said the upper legislative chamber would forcefully invite the EFCC to recover the funds from the defaulting companies.