The House of Representatives will, on April 11 2023, grill ministers and heads of ministries, departments, agencies, oil companies and banks over the alleged illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil valued at $2.4 billion. The probe is being handled by the House’s Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Loss of Over $2.4 billion in Revenue from the Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Export in 2015, including all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 to date.
In a notice to invitees issued on Monday, the committee demanded memoranda from whistle‑blowers whose alerts had led to the recovery of public funds from corrupt individuals and organisations. One hundred individuals, organisations and groups were invited, among them the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its Group Chief Executive Officer; the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; the Attorney General of the Federation; the Director of Public Prosecutions; the Central Bank of Nigeria; the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and its Chief Executive; the former Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Recovery of Missing Crude Oil; former DSS Director‑General Lawal Musa Daura; the Department of State Services; the Nigeria Police Force; and the INTERPOL National Central Bureau, Nigeria.
Oil and telecommunications firms, as well as banks, were also summoned. These include Dangote Industries Limited/Dangote Refinery; MTN Nigeria; 9Mobile Nigeria; Airtel Nigeria; United Bank for Africa; Guaranty Trust Bank; Access Bank; Ecobank; Fidelity Bank; Zenith Bank; Famfa Oil; Seplat Petroleum; Addax Petroleum; Total Energies; Chevron; Shell (SNEPCO & SPDC); Sahara Energy Resources; Conoil; AITEO; Agip/NAOC; Heirs Petroleum; ExxonMobil/ESSO Petroleum; Oando; Oriental; SAPETRO; and all other joint‑venture, production‑sharing‑contract and marginal‑field operators. Additional top government officials have also been invited.
The notice added, “In the unlikely event that formal correspondence from the committee does not reach any of those listed above, please consider this publication as a formal invitation to the public hearing.” It further requested that individuals, agencies, civil‑society and non‑governmental organisations, companies and any other entities that possess or have provided whistle‑blower information to the Nigerian Government—whether or not that information has resulted in recovery—submit memoranda with the required details to the committee’s secretariat.
The committee has already held at least two investigative hearings, during which invitees such as the Nigeria Police Force and INTERPOL were grilled. Chairman Mark Gbillah, contacted by telephone on Monday, explained that the panel had not yet been officially inaugurated because Speaker of the House Femi Gbajabiamila was unavailable to declare the hearing open. The Speaker is now expected to inaugurate the committee on April 11. When asked whether the investigation could be concluded before the 9th National Assembly ends in June, Gbillah said the probe might continue into the 10th Assembly, noting, “We believe we have enough time to address the critical issues. Anything outstanding can be recommended for the next House to take over. This is too important an issue for us not to try to conclude.”
The House resolved on December 20 2022 to constitute 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 to China in 2015 and the insurance status of the cargo. The committee’s mandate also covers all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 onward, examining quantities, insurance, revenue generated, remittances to the Federation Account or other accounts, and the utilisation of that revenue. Additionally, the panel will review all proceeds recovered through the Whistle‑Blowers Policy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and assess compliance with the policy. The committee was instructed to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
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