An ad hoc committee in the House of Representatives has been investigating the sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil worth over $2.4 billion and crude oil exports to China from 2014 till date.
The committee has revealed that $200 million was paid as consultancy fees in whistleblower recoveries by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami. According to the committee’s Chairman, Mark Gbillah, this payment was allegedly made within statutory approvals.
During a public hearing on Wednesday, April 10, 2023, Gbillah expressed dissatisfaction with the non-cooperation of Malami and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed. Despite sending invitation letters, the duo had failed to answer to issues arising from the crude sales.
Gbillah has appealed to the public officers to appear before the committee or face the risk of arrest. He emphasised that the committee has not been getting any form of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s office regarding this investigation.
“We’ve looked at the functions of the Attorney General’s office and we’ve not seen any statutory powers provided for the Attorney General by the constitution to determine how Nigeria’s money should be spent,” Gbillah said.
He added that there was an incident about a whistleblower who made a formal report to Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, about $200 million paid into two companies’ accounts, Biz Plus and GSCL, allegedly for consultancy services, which were approved by the Attorney General’s office on the approval of the president.
“We will make this further appeal to the Minister of Finance and Attorney General of the Federation and all others who have not responded or who have not honoured the committee’s invitations to do so in the national interest,” Gbillah said.
The committee has warned that it will invoke the instrument of the summons and all other necessary powers the National Assembly can exercise in this regard if the concerned individuals fail to appear before the committee to give evidence with regards to the allegations that have been laid before the committee.
