The House of Representatives committee investigating the alleged sales of 48 million barrels of crude oil has summoned the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed.
The committee also summoned the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Index (NEITI), and oil and gas companies.
The ad hoc committee, chaired by Mark Gbillah, on Tuesday issued the summons at its inauguration sitting. The House had in December 2022 resolved to probe the alleged missing barrels of crude oil allegedly sold in China by some Nigerian officials.
The resolution followed a motion moved by Ibrahim Isiaka (APC, Ogun), who claimed in his motion that the tip was provided by a whistleblower.
Consequently, the House mandated the 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 Account or other accounts as well as utilisation of the revenue for the period under review.
In addition, the panel will investigate all proceeds recovered through the Whistle-Blowers Policy of the regime led by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, and the level of compliance with the policy.
Speaking on the failure of the officials to honour the invitation of the committee, Mr Gbillah said there are allegations against Ms Ahmed of breach of the Whistleblower policy of the government. He said the minister has been paying whistleblowers less than the recommended rate prescribed by the policy.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
