 |
| overview of the Green Chamber |
The investigative hearing of the outgoing 9th Assembly was hosted by Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives and chaired by Rt Hon Mark Billah, Chairman of the ad-hoc committee. The hearing was held at Conference Room 034, House of Representatives New Building Extension, National Assembly, Abuja
Also Read: Parading Suspects is Illegal-NHRC blast Police, EFCC and others
The speaker in his opening ceremony remark noted that the probe has become imperative of dwindling revenue accruing to Nigeria from crude oil sales, he noted with dismay the allegations that over 2.4 billion US dollars in sales of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil to China in 2015 were undeclared.
He said it was reported that about 700 million dollars worth of crude oil was lost to oil theft monthly in Nigeria, adding that between January and July 2022 alone, the country lost 10 billion dollars to the crime.
The speaker also posited that the recommendation of the ad hoc committee would go a long way in guiding the house in making an informed decision in considering the Whistleblower Bill. Similarly, the Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Rt Hon. Mark Gbillah, in delivering his open address noted that“It is unfortunate that the minister of finance and the attorney general of the federation were absent even after being duly invited by the committee. the committee thereafter ruled summoning the Minister of Finance and other stakeholders invited to appear before the committee
“This is a formal request from the committee that the minister and others should appear before this committee because they have received a formal invitation to do so.”
The committee chairman thereafter stood down the representative of NIA from presenting their position due to the lack of official correspondence from their respective agencies mandating them to speak on behalf of their MDs. this left only the representative of the Chairman Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in the person of Hon E.J Agbonayinma a Federal Commissioner at the Bureau who was there both as a representative of the CCB and in his capacity as a former member of the Green chamber and an initiator of the initial bill for the probe of undeclared crude sales. after administering the oath on him he was given the floor to make his presentation.
 |
| front: Hon EJ Agbonayinma, Federal Commissioner CCB. Behind: Blessed Omoegbe Jattoh, PolAd to UN,AU and ECOWAS Peace Support Operations in Africa |
in his presentation, Hon Agbonayinma noted that in 2016 while still, a member of the Assembly moved a motion which he also sponsored on the floor of the hallowed chamber on the urgent need to investigate the over 17 billion dollars stolen from undeclared crude oil and liquefied natural gas exported to global destinations. The bill noted that the policy of Nigeria which warrant loading of crude oil from Nigeria from the DPR, Navy, Custom, the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) and NIMASA has been crippled over the years. This agency has majorly lost the capacity to go to offshore locations to monitor loading, the machines used for loading crude into vessels were bought, owned, calibrated and operated by the international oil company (IOC) without monitoring, this data so gathered shows for energy shortfall a total of 227,469 metric tons of liquefied natural gas, this loss he said is trace to cargos at it destination port of entry.
Also Read: Celebration as the Austrian Ministry of Defence Certified an illustrious Edo Son
He further noted that while there is still the menace of bunkers, the major bunkers are those cargos that left the country to foreign destinations. He stated that the former president employed the service of a private firm in Texas to investigate all cargos that left this country for foreign destinations and that from its findings to the US alone it was 391,141 barrels and that there were 51 such countries.
 |
| EJ Agbonayinma presentng his paper |
He also noted that according to information made available to his committee by the NNPC that in 2011 the barrel that they declared was 301,000,770, barrels with an average price of 111USD per barrel while the expected receipt of payment 33, 769,690,602USD
In 2012, NNPC declared 296, 480,785 barrels with an average price of 112USD while expected receipt of 33,208,812,737 USD.
Also Read: Ologbo: A Starved Cow nourishing the gluttonous city
In 2013, barrels declared was 267,120,559 barrels with an estimated average price of 110.12 USD while the Amount received was 29,415,315,957
2014, barrel declared 270,719,119 barrel, average cost 101.10USD. Amount received 27,588, 985,417 USD
In a similar vein, the CBN confirmation on how much was received shows that in 2011 the CBN received 14,345,615,183 USD
In 2012 they confirmed the receipt of 10,184,830,742 USD, while in 2013 CBN received 8,408,879,147 USD and in 2014, the CBN received 9,810,151,926 USD
Also Read: Naira Notes/Fuel Crisis: Who Knows Where I Can Locate The NLC Office?
The amount received by CBN confirmation receipt is 42,749,912,410 USD while the total barrels sold was 1,136,090,532 barrels. The total amount received for the sales of the barrels from 2011-2014 was 123,981,183,703 USD leaving a variation of 81,231,271,293 USD unremitted to the Federation account
Hon Agbonayinma noted that it took him lots of time and personal resources to travel to the United State on four different occasions to ensure the investigation saw the light of day and expressed disappointment that seven years after he is still been called on the same issues nothing done so far. He stated that what is needed at this time is the will and commitment to see Nigeria’s resources in the global destination are brought back to the country and as such he told the committee that he would aid them with documents to make their work easier. He further urged the committee not to play to the gallery but ensure justice is done to the Nigerian people whose collective patrimony has been embezzled
0 comments:
Post a Comment
please leave us a comment to this post