Discontinue $2.4bn, 48m Barrels Crude Probe, Reps Urge Federal Govt

The House of Representatives has urged the federal government not to waste taxpayers money by continuing the investigation of alleged missing of 48 barrels of crude oil worth $2.4 billion.

This followed the consideration and adoption of of report of the

Ad-hoc Committee that Investigated the Alleged Loss of over $2.4 billion in Revenue from the Illegal Sale of 48 million barrels of Crude Oil in 2015 Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 to date.

The Mark Gbillah (SDP, Benue)- led Committee advised the National Assembly (Senate and the House), anti-graft and other agencies of government not to waste taxpayer’s funds on further future investigation of these allegations as they appear to be completely fraudulent and unsubstantiated.

It asked security and anti-graft agencies should be advised to prosecute any of the individuals who initially made these allegations if any one of them continues to peddle these false allegations after the committee’s investigation.

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“The Abuja High court handling the case against the related individuals is advised to resume the hearing and prosecution of the case so justice can be meted out appropriately if any of the

individuals are found culpable.

“Mr Jackson Ude and Point Blank News should be advised to issue a public retraction of their publication of these allegations on their website and other media outlets considering the damage this publication has done to the reputation of related government officials and should strongly be admonished to be more circumspect in their future publications,” the Committee stated.

It called for the continuation of a detailed investigation of all crude oil exports from Nigeria from 2011 till date involving all oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria who are involved in crude oil production and exportation.

The Committee also demanded in depth investigation of report of the consultants and legal team engaged by the federal government through NIMASA who identified loss of revenue to Nigeria from discrepancies in quantities of crude oil exports.

“House committee on petroleum resources (upstream) of the 10th assembly should prevail on

the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority, Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Index and other government related entities to explore the production of a harmonised, central

and regularly updated record of Nigeria’s crude oil exports and proceeds and the committee should superintend the execution of same.

“A further investigation by related house committee in the 10th assembly should be conducted into the level of compliance to the payment of royalty and other related taxes by oil and gas companies including details of payments made to date.

“NEITI should be advised to provide its updated records of royalty and taxes paid in 2021 and 2022 and explore an efficient way to ensure its records are up to date considering its watchdog

status.

“The federal government (should) engage with the Indian government diplomatically to ensure the amicable resolution of the matter of the Sandesara brothers to avoid unnecessary friction in the relationship between both countries. The committee recommends no further investigation into the issue against the NPA MD as these allegations appear to be premeditated

“A detailed forensic investigation should be carried out by the related House committee in the 10th assembly to ascertain the facts and reasons behind the Central Bank of Nigeria’s payment of N16.25 billion into each of the UBA accounts of Bizplus Consulting Services Limited and GSCL Consulting Services Limited,” the report read further.