Former Member of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Mark Terseer Gbillah, acting through his legal counsel, Chronos Legal & Co., has filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests with 11 federal institutions. The filings demand statutory justification and official documentation regarding a Presidential directive that altered the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) statutory Cost of Collection.
The inquiry centers on a July 7, 2023, memo from the Chief of Staff to the President directed to the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources. The directive restructured the NUPRC’s statutory 4% Cost of Collection, allocating 2.5% for operations and routine capital expenditure, while reserving the remaining 1.5% exclusively for upgrading crude oil and gas metering and transparency systems.
Through his legal representatives, Chronos Legal & Co., Gbillah is requesting records establishing the legal, constitutional, statutory and administrative basis for the directive, including its compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, the Public Procurement Act and other applicable laws. The requests also seek documents relating to the appropriation, expenditure, administration and management of the NUPRC Cost of Collection since July 2023, including approvals, budgetary provisions, treasury records, procurement documents, board resolutions and other relevant official records.
