House C’ttee Reinvites Malami, Ahmed over  Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the alleged illegal export of 48 million barrels of crude oil to foreign destinations, yesterday, re-invited the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, and the Minister of Finance, Dr Zainab Ahmed, to appear today, Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 10:00 am unfailingly.

Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Mark Terseer Gbiillah, re-issued the summon during the ongoing three days investigative hearing  on the $2.4 billion alleged to have been siphoned by oil companies and some government agencies on the deal.

At the resumed hearing, the Committee said the two ministers were to come and shed lights on the whistleblower policy of the federal government and provide the committee with all requested documents on the issue under probe by the House.

The lawmakers had earlier grilled the Director of Development of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Mr. E. Amadusun, over the N21 billion paid as loyalty by oil companies to the coffers of the agencies.

They demanded from many oil companies invited to the hearing, their pre-shipment inspection certificates, detail of vessels used for the export of crude, financial accounting of the lifting and the details of their banking as well as the statements to unravel the truth.

Responding to questions, the Operational Manager of of Millennium Oil and Gas, Mr Kingsley Etuk Akpan, informed the lawmakers that 20 Square KM oil field was acquired by the firm.

Akpan while responding to further questions on whether his company had documents in support of the ownership, he answered affirmatively, adding that the operational document was from Shell, and disclosed to that they bided for the contract as letter of award, among other documents, were intact in their custody.