The House of Representatives is to commence investigations into alleged loss of over $2.4 billion revenue from illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil exported in 2015 and external sale of commodity exports from 2014 to date.
This followed lawmakers’ resolution to constitute an ad hoc committee to specifically, probe allegations of 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 is expected to examine 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.
According to a document of the votes and proceedings that contains the resolutions of the House Of Reps sighted by Pointblanknews.com, the 12 member committee is expected to submit its report within 4 weeks.
The resolution also moved to query “the allegations by a whistleblower in July 2020 that he had in July 2015 and in response to the current administration’s whistleblower policy brought to the attention of a committee purportedly set up by the president for the recovery of missing crude oil exports, the existence of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil in storage at several ports in China ostensibly under the authorisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the intention of parties in China and the NNPC to sell this cargo.”
The document also showed that the whistleblower claimed that the committee, which comprised very high-ranking officials of the administration and NNPC (some of whom he held meetings with), carried out an investigation and confirmed the existence of the cargo, but he discovered in October 2015, that the sale of this cargo had been initiated through unofficial channels and the eventual refusal of the committee to honour their agreement to pay five per cent value of the cargo in line with the terms of the whistleblower policy.
The allegation being that the entire cargo of 48 million barrels of Bonny Light Crude was sold without the proceeds being remitted to the coffers of the country, which translated to a loss to Nigeria of over $2.4 billion considering the 2015 global average crude oil price of $52 per barrel.
