The House of Representatives on Monday summoned Mr Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over alleged 17 billion dollars undeclared oil proceeds.
Summoned with Magu are Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
They are expected to appear on Tuesday before the House’s Ad hoc Committee investigating the alleged theft of the oil funds.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, announced the invitation of the three persons at the opening of the investigation on Monday in Abuja, following the committee’s displeasure that the chief executives sent their subordinates to represent them.
Also summoned are Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside and Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris.
Also to appear before the committee on the issue are Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Mr Stephen Sejebor and a Director at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Modecai Ladan.
Namdas, who is also the spokesman of the lower chamber, said that since the nation depended on oil proceeds, no fight against corruption could be meaningful without serious searchlight on the oil industry.
According to him, this is especially when the perpetrators are high and mighty and inexorably the models the society looks up to.
The committee chairman warned that the House would not hesitate to invoke its constitutional powers to compel the invited chief executives to appear, if they defaulted.
He, therefore, turned back directors and other management staff who were sent as representatives of their respective organisations at the committee’s sitting.
Namdas had said earlier that reports had it that over 57 million barrels of crude oil were illegally exported and sold in the U.S. between January, 2011 and December, 2014.
He said that the estimated revenue loss by the government of Nigeria “is around 12 billion dollars’’.
“At an exchange rate of N196 to a dollar, this translates to over N2 trillion. You can imagine what the value is now,” he said.
According to him, the corruption in the oil industry distorts public policy, creates misappropriation and misapplication of resources.
Namdas added that “it vitiates private sector and private sector development and over and above all, it undermines good governance and ultimately hurts the poor most”.
Declaring the investigative hearing open earlier, Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara, said incidents of stolen and missing money at the NNPC and entire oil industry had become an albatross to development of the nation.
Dogara decried the situation, saying that if not for the constant theft in the industry, the nation would not have been in economic recession at the moment.
“The incidence of money missing in the industry has become a recurrent decimal to the point that news items in the media are incomplete without mention of the ills of the industry.
“The reports of the media on the ills in oil industry clearly attest to the concern of the government to tackle corruption in the industry head on”.
The speaker, who was represented by the Minority Whip, Rep. Yakubu Barde, said that the country had received disturbing audit reports about the oil industry.
He said that the report involving International Oil Companies (IOCs) was that about 4.4 billion dollars was trapped somewhere instead of being remitted to the Federation Account.
He cited a report from an anti-corruption organisation, the Action Network for Economic Justice, which claimed that NNPC did not remit over 12 billion dollars to the federation account since 2009.
“The same organisation alleged that the sum of 5.9 billion dollars of the federation account were lost to offshore processing agreements and through crude theft in the country”.
According to the speaker, if loss of revenue to the nation through the oil industry is to be avoided, I can beat my chest that under no circumstances should Nigeria talk about recession.
“Therefore, no amount of investigation in the oil industry can be said to be an over-kill as the oil industry has become endemic.
“The investigation of the 17 billion dollars, therefore, remains part of the ongoing process in confronting the hydra-headed monster,” he said.
Dogara, therefore, urged the committee to complement government’s efforts in the fight against corruption. (NAN)
AMM/EEM/MST