Politics

MISSING $17bn: Reps summon Magu, NNPC boss, CBN gov, others

Published

7 years ago

April 10, 2017

Two soldiers, 2 bankers connived, diverted N339m military pension with 33 accounts –Magu

Ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating alleged $17billion stolen from undeclared oil proceeds has summoned the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu to appear before it on Tuesday.

Summoned along Magu is the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele, Director-general of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside and Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.

Also summoned by the committee is the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Stephen Sejebor and director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Modecai Ladan.

The chairman of the committee, Abdulrazak Namdas, summoned them on Monday in Abuja during the opening of the investigation that saw all the invited stakeholders represented by their subordinates.

The summon is sequel to the commencement of investigation into the alleged $17billion stolen from undeclared crude oil and liquefied natural gas exports to global destinations.

Namdas said at the occasion that Nigeria lived by oil proceeds and there was no way fight against corruption could amount to something meaningful without serious probe of oil sector.

“This is especially when the perpetrators are high and mighty who inexorably are the models the society looks up to” he said, and warned that House was not going to dilly-dally to invoke its constitutional powers to constrain the invited chief executives to appear, if they default.

Namdas then asked the directors and other management staff sent to represent their respective organisations to return back.
The committee chairman had, in his opening remarks earlier, disclosed that more than 57 million barrels of crude oil were illicitly exported and sold in the U.S. between January 2011 and December 2014.

Trouble began when the committee chairman, Abdulrazaq Namdas, refused to accept the officials, made up of heads of various units in their respective offices as being unqualified to stand in for their agencies.

The attempts by the officials to explain that it was their units that were directly involved in handling the related issues on the activities leading to the said missing money did not convince the committee as the chairman insisted that his Committee would only listen to the chief executive officers of the affected government agencies on the matter.

“None of you sitting here is competent to speak authoritatively on the issue at hand, and as such we rise, believing that you will return with your respective chief executives, ” Namdas stated as his members walked out on the seated officials.

However, one of officials, dismissed by Committee, who pleaded for anonymity said it would not be possible to have the various chief executive officers from the government agencies appear once before the committee.

“Even if they can come, it is we, the heads of the units and departments that would be called upon to answer technical questions on the matter, ” the official said.

An aide to the chairman said the invited agencies’ officials could have been given letters of authority, mandating them to stand in for them.

In his comments, a member of the committee, Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, said he was shocked that despite enough notice given the various agencies, to appear before the committee, their heads did not take such invitation serious.

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