Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, Others Under Probe Over Alleged Illegal Sale of $2.4bn Oil to China
- The House of Reps is set to probe a number of individuals, government agencies and companies over and illegal oil deal with China
- A committee investigating the matter alleged that Malami was in receipt of funds accrued from the deal, but did not remit to the federation account
- The issues of oil thefts, illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria have been a menace with resultant revenue losses to the country
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Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Zainab Ahmed, the Minister for Finance, and others are set to be probed over the alleged illegal sale of $2.4bn oil to China.
According to Vanguard, this was made known by Hon. Mark Gbillah, Chairman, House of Representatives Adhoc committee investigating the ‘Alleged Loss of Over $2.4 Billion in Revenue from Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Export in 2015 Including, All Crude Oil Exports and Sales by Nigeria from 2014 Till Date.’
Source: UGC
The House's constituted committee on oil theft resumed its probe following intelligence from a whistle-blower, with an investigation into the unofficial sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil reportedly worth $2.4 billion to China.
While addressing invitees at a public hearing of the panel, Gbillah alleged that Mr Malami was in receipt of funds accrued from the deal, but did not remit same to the federation account.
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Besides Malami, others invited for the probe include Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and other oil and gas firms allegedly involved.
Following a whistle-blower policy instituted in 2016, the legislature was hinted of the deal in July 2020. It was alleged by the whistle-blower that stolen crude oil been stored at several Chinese ports and later sold by officials of the NNPC.
In reaction, the NNPC dismissed the allegation as false, but Chinese authorities are yet to comment.
Commenting on the controversy, Tayo Sobowale, energy expert told Legit.ng that crude oil theft has been a major issue in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria for a long time. He said:
The amount of money Nigeria has lost to crude oil theft has been very depressing. Unfortunately, because some of the people who have been benefitting from it are in government, it becomes almost impossible to arrest the situation.
In the case of this secret sale of oil to China, I would indulge the House of Reps to thoroughly investigate all those who are involved and then allow the law to take it course. People need to be made example of. They can't continue stealing the commonwealth of everyone and go scot-free.
Crude oil theft in Nigeria
With millions of dollars lost daily, Nigeria has been experiencing some of the worst crude oil theft in its history. According to Legit.ng, Nigeria lost a staggering $10 billion in revenue in the first seven months of 2022 from crude oil theft.
The theft grew from 103,000 barrels per day in 2021 to 108,000 barrels per day on average in the first quarter of 2022, the Chairman of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Gbenga Komolafe told Bloomberg a few months ago.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), in its audit report made public in July 2021, indicated that in 2019, Nigeria lost 42.25 million barrels of crude oil to oil theft, then valued at $2.77 billion, an improvement on the 53.28 million barrels stolen in 2018.
The issues of oil thefts, illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria have been a menace with resultant revenue losses to the country. The illegal activities have also affected monthly revenue remittance to the federation account.
The increasing and indiscriminate oil theft has prevented Nigeria from benefiting amid a sustained oil boom and is affecting the accretion of the country’s foreign reserves.
Source: Legit.ng
