*Members of the public laugh, say it’s waste of public fund and time
The House of Representatives has resolved to set up an Ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in crude oil revenue accruing from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil from 2014 to date.
On Tuesday, the lawmakers said the committee will investigate the allegations made by a whistleblower regarding the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude in China in 2015 and the insurance status of the cargo.
The House’s decision was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim, representing Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency of Ogun State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ibrahim in his lead debate called for the intervention of the House and emphasised the need to recover the fund in line with extant laws, Tribune reports.
He said, “The House is aware of allegations by a whistleblower in July 2020 that he had in July 2015 and in response to the current administration`s whistleblower policy brought to the attention of a committee purportedly set up by the President for the recovery of missing crude oil exports, the existence of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny light crude oil in storage at several ports in China ostensibly under the authorization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the intention of parties in China and the NNPC toThe House is also aware that the whistleblower claimed that the committee, which comprised very high-ranking officials of the administration and NNPC (some of whom he held meetings with) carried out an investigation and confirmed the existence of this cargo, but he discovered in October 2015 that the sale of this cargo had been initiated through unofficial channels and the eventual refusal of the committee to honour their agreement to pay 5% value of the cargo in line with the terms of the whistleblower policy.
“The House is worried by the allegations that the entire cargo of 48 million barrels of Bonny light crude was sold without the proceeds being remitted to the coffers of the country, which translated to a loss to the Nigerian state of over $2.4 billion considering the 2015 global average crude oil price of $52 per barrel.
“The House is concerned that more than two years after these allegations came to the fore and the uncertainty surrounding the required insurance of these crude exports, it becomes imperative that the House needs to ascertain the actual details of all previous crude exports from Nigeria from 2014 till date with regards to quantity, sale, insurance, revenue generated, payment into the federation account and how these proceeds were utilized.”
Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Ad-hoc committee to investigate all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 to date with regards to quantity, insurance, revenue generated, remittances into the federation accounts or other accounts as well as utilization of this revenue for the period under review.
The House also mandated the committee to investigate all proceeds recovered through the whistleblower’s policy and the level of compliance with the policy.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Idris Wase, further mandated the committee to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
But a cross-section of Nigerians who spoke to our correspondents said the actions of the House is diversionary as they have never caught any culprit or stopped corruption in their previous investigations.
They advised the House members to channel their energies towards lawmaking only and stop wasting public funds on issues that will come to nothing.
They reminded the House of their probe of the contract scam in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), reminding them that it ended in “Mr. Chairman, off the mic”.
Those who spoke anonymously said: “The Rep members should not waste our money delving into an area we already know its outcome that they will arrive at nothing.
“This has been their Hallmark all along. We have not forgotten the ‘Mr. Chairman, off the mic’ and other investigations that arrived at no destination.
“Are they not there to oversight MDAs? How come humongous amounts of money always slip away from what they are oversights, only for them to come here and attempt to deceive us?
“They should let Nigerians be. We don’t believe them. They lack the capacity to do any thorough job.
“At the end, they will either collude or express frustrations that people they summon have refused to appear before their Investigative panel or even when they arrive at a decision, it will end up as the Ibrahim Magu’s case, nothing will happen to those indicted.
“They should please not waste our money on this kind of jamboree that leads to nothing,” they said.
