$60bn Loss: House of Reps Threatens to Sanction Agencies, Firms

By Adedapo Adesanya

The House of Representatives has threatened to sanction agencies and companies that failed to appear before the committee in the probe of loss of $60 billion by the federal government.

The amount is an inflated cash call by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Joint Venture Agreements.

The House of Reps Joint Committee on Finance and Petroleum Resources (Upstream) made the threat at its resumed investigative hearing on Monday in Abuja.

The joint panel, co-chaired by the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr James Faleke; and the Chairman of the Petroleum Resources Committee, Mr Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, frowned at the absence of the chief executives of companies and agencies billed to appear before the investigating team.

The committee berated the shoddy presentation made by the few who turned up and condemned the habit of sending representatives from the invited companies and agencies.

Mr Ado-Doguwa said that the committee would not take it lightly with those who try to undermine the constitutional power of the parliament.

The lawmaker said the agencies were involved with huge amounts of resources that would have been used to better the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians and hence must be held accountable.

He said, “For those who have not come, there were several companies and agencies that were invited, and it’s like they were insensitive to the invitation of this important committee.

“For those who chose to disregard what the parliament is doing here, this committee would not take it lightly with anyone or institution who wants to undermine our power,’’ he said.

Mr Ado-Doguwa said that the committee would be compelled going forward to invoke and also create any means possible to use the available instrumentality of the law to ensure that whoever is invited appears.

He said if any of them decided not to appear, in the end, the committee would be compelled to use the instrumentality of the law to compel appearances.

This, he said, is in respect of matters that involved huge amounts of resources, adding that these were resources that would have been used to better the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians.

He listed some of the companies and agencies involved in the probe including Total Exploration, Shell Petroleum, Agip, Chevron, Oando, Mobil, Pan Ocean, Erotton, Belema, First Exploration, and New Cross Exploration.

Others are Seplat Petroleum, Amini International Petroleum, West Africa Exploration and Production Limited, Walter Smith Petroleum Limited, and Western Sahara Energy Limited, among others.