Finance minister Zainab Ahmed; and the Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were among the officials invited on Tuesday to answer questions, according to Channels Television.
Several high-ranking officials in the Nigerian Government have been invited by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Theft in its investigation into the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015.
Finance minister Zainab Ahmed; and the Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were among the officials invited on Tuesday to answer questions, according to Channels Television.
The committee also summoned the acting Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okolieaboh; and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), among others.
According to the report, the committee is concerned about the disparity in figures from crude oil sales from 2011 to 2014 and is accusing the finance minister of approving payments to whistle-blowers at variance with the whistle-blower policy.
SaharaReporters reported in December 2022 that Nigeria's lower legislative chamber constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate a whistle-blower’s allegation of 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 committee was also tasked 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 Muhammadu Buhari government and the level of compliance with the policy.
The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
These resolutions followed the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member of the House, Ibrahim Isiaka, titled, “Alleged Loss of over $2.4 Billion in Revenue from Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Export in 2015, Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 till Date.”
A report by the Nigerian Senate recently revealed that the NNPC failed to account for the delivery of crude oil amounting to N102 billion to Warri and Kaduna refineries.
Last Wednesday, SaharaReporters reported that the Senate considered and adopted the report of its Committee on Public Accounts which probed the spending of government agencies using the 2016 audit report.
The report said in 2016, the NNPC delivered crude oil to Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company without details of what was delivered to the two firms.
The report, presented by Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said: “From the review and examination of domestic crude oil lifting sales profile presented for audit verification, it was noted that several deliveries were stated to be jointly lifted by or delivered to WRPC and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company without necessary details or breakdown of what was delivered to respective companies.”
It said from the examination carried out, a total oil sales value of $376, 655,589 (N102.6bn) was stated to have been lifted jointly by these two companies.
The Senate adopted the recommendation of the committee and urged the head of the NNPC to provide specific details of the crude oil delivered to the two refineries for audit.
Meanwhile, the Senate upheld the indictment of 37 MDAs for violation of financial procedure in their spending.
The report came a few days after SaharaReporters reported how the Ogun State government dragged NNPC to court over unpaid tax liabilities running into N9 billion.
There were also allegations of outright theft by the staff of the defunct Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), who allegedly paid a total sum of N1 billion to its consultant, Messres Safaya, as part of the money she helped them to save on the tax refund demands by the Ogun State government.
Following the transition of the PPMC, there is the NNPC retail which is for filling station owners and retailers and NNPC trucking, which is for vessels tank farms and others.
However, the state government was surprised that nothing was paid to it, but NNPC paid itself to the tune of over a billion naira.
It was alleged that Messres Safaya was paid over N1 billion as 10 per cent consultancy fee but no document shows that the Ogun state government was paid a dime.
A staff member of the corporation who was not happy with the alleged fraud that was committed by the defunct staff members of the corporation cited instances of direct theft by the staff of the defunct PPMC. The staff member alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was turning a blind eye to the “massive fraud going on in NNPC because most of the principal actors involved are their people”.
The source alleged that most of the payments to the consultants were being shared by the management of the defunct PPMC.
He challenged the EFCC officials to look at the accounts of the consultants hired by the management of the PPMC and see how the money was distributed.
On how much he thought was paid to consultants from his office, he said he could say categorically that over N20 billion was stolen under the pretext of paying ghost consultants they hired.
However, Garba Deen Muhammad, Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC denied the fraud allegations, saying the company did not have or deal with ghost consultants.
He added that the “process of engaging consultants whenever the need arises is clear and verifiable and follows global best practices”.
A statement issued by the NNPC said, “The claim of a missing N2bn is absolutely false and baseless. The second component of the said unfortunate report is related to Ogun State Government claiming a back duty tax liability of about N18bn, against an NNPC subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Ltd.
“For clarity, PPMC had objected and challenged the claim through its Tax Consultant. Consequently, the Ogun State Government took the matter to court which is not unusual in business circles.
“The matter is currently before the court and NNPC Ltd will prove its case accordingly. In conclusion, NNPC Ltd strongly advises the said online publication to be mindful of the consequences of its actions before taking them.”