House Committee Summons NNPC over Alleged Fraudulent Deal with Chinese Firm
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been summoned to appear before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to respond to an allegation that it granted unofficial approval to a Chinese firm to lift over 80 trillion metric tonnes of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO).
The summon followed a petition by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) - Chief Ogwu Onoja and Dr. Muiz Banire, in collaboration with Bola Aidi, alleging in a petition that Nigeria was shortchanged in the alleged shady deal.
Presenting details of the transaction contained in the petition addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari; Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachukwu, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, before the committee, Aidi, who represented the lawyers, said their client introduced the Chinese firm to NNPC.
Alleging that NNPC is feigning ignorance of the said transaction, Aidi told journalists that “We are the one that brought the petition asking this august House to investigate what is likely to be the missing fund in the accounts of the NNPC.
“So, we are asking the House to investigate this on behalf of Nigerians, so that we can know whether some people have constituted themselves to sell oil on behalf of Nigeria without remitting the money. It is something that involves monumental sum of the money. It is supposed to last for 30 years and they have commenced lifting and they are still lifting.
Reacting to the allegation, the House Committee Chairman, Hon. Joseph Akinlaja, harped on the need for NNPC and others involved in the alleged deal to appear before the committee to state their side of the story as Nigerians will be interested in what really transpired.
According to him, “All these allegations cannot be proven if all the stakeholders are not complete before this panel. We have gotten letter from NNPC asking for another date to appear. We have also got representation from Duke Oil asking for another date because we invited them too.