Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives said it has granted a last chance to representatives of the Federal Government to appear before an ad-hoc committee set up to address the $2.4 billion loss accrued from the alleged illegal sales of 48 million barrels of crude oil.
Earlier today, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Mark Gbillah, disclosed that some officials of the Federal Government were invited to appear before the committee but failed to do so.
The representatives include the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele, the Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and the Minister for Finance Dr Zainab Ahmed.
More details
According to Hon, Gbillah, the government officials were invited and refused to acknowledge receipt of the correspondence and also did not honour the invite. He said if the officials did not show up at a later date, further statutory powers of the House will be exercised on them.
He also said that documents from the Accountant General showed that payments have been made to whistle-blowers and recoveries from whistle-blowers but no evidence to show that those monies were expended in accordance with the relevant laws.
The backstory
Nairametrics had previously reported that the Federal House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 11, began a three-day investigative hearing of the alleged illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil, valued at $2.4 billion.
The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Theft has invited several high-ranking officials in the Federal Government over its investigation into the alleged loss of $2.4 billion in revenue from the illegal crude oil sale in 2015.
Last week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila said the investigation was a necessity because crude oil theft had become too rampant in the country. He said:
“The onus is on the House of Representatives, as a responsible House of the Nigerian people, to carry out a thorough investigation to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of these allegations, including an investigation into crude oil exports from Nigeria from 2014 to 2022, to ascertain the accuracy of recorded revenue from sales during this period, the utilization of this revenue and identify any likely additional losses in revenue to the country.”
What you should know
In 2020, whistleblowers alleged that 48 million barrels of crude oil, which at the exchange rate at the time, would have amounted to over $2.4 billion was sold off to China, by certain individuals at the helm of affairs in government and some who they claim are still at the helm of affairs in certain quarters in government.
* Nairametrics