President Buhari Approves New Board for Niger Delta Power

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President Buhari Approves New Board for Niger Delta Power

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the constitution of a new board of directors for the Niger Delta Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (NDPHC).

Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Gboribioga Jonah, announced this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“The NEC discussed the reconstitution of the board of the NDPHC. The board has been approved by the President and will take effect in due course,’’ he said.

The deputy governor also announced that the Excess Crude Oil Account as at April 30, stood at 2.26 billion dollars yielding an interest of 429,903 dollars for the month.

He said that the NEC audit ad hoc committee on the forensic report of the Excess Crude Account and remittances into the federation account gave an update to the NEC.

In the update, he said, the ad hoc committee reported that a committee set up in 2013 on crude oil theft prevention and control was ineffective.

He, however, said that the audit committee, having consulted widely with stakeholders found out that there was inadequacy of operational patrol vehicles and vessels to patrol the entire oil pipelines.

To check pipelines vandalism and oil theft, the committee recommended the procurement and deployment of appropriate technology in the region, creation of special courts for speedy prosecution of oil thieves, among others.

On the receipt of bailout funds, Kogi Gov. Yahaya Bello said 30 states applied and benefitted from the federal government bailout as at May 18,
while 35 states applied for the Excess Crude Account-backed loans.

Bello said the NEC was updated on the issue of supply of Premium Motor Spirit and marketing following the crumbling of the NNPC supply dynamics.

According to him, scarcity of PMS was caused by the scarcity of foreign exchange due to 60 per cent drop in global crude oil sales.

He said that prevalent hoarding, smuggling and diversion of products reduced the availability of the products and forced arbitrary increase of the prices of the commodity to between N150 and N300 per litre.

Bello said there was no prevention subsidy provision in the 2016 budget as current subsidy claim per month stood at N16.4 billion.

He expressed satisfaction that the increase in pump price of PMS had led to availability of products, noting that prices would soon stabilise at lower cost.

Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, who also spoke, explained that capping the price of PMS at N145 per litre was to protect consumers against exploitation by marketers