HOUSE of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating pre-shipment inspection failures and the non-remittance of crude oil proceeds has vowed to halt the massive revenue leakages undermining Nigeria’s oil and non-oil export sectors.
Speaking at the opening of a capacity-building workshop for committee members in Abuja yesterday, the Chairman, Seyi Sowunmi, said Nigeria’s losses, amounting to billions of dollars, translate into “hundreds of hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure denied to citizens.”
He said the committee was set up in response to mounting evidence of systemic exploitation across the export value chain, stressing that the probe was “a national mission, not a witch-hunt.”
He noted that the workshop aimed to equip lawmakers with the technical expertise required to interrogate export data, maritime operations, and financial intelligence, with experts in trade compliance, forensic auditing, and international oil transactions providing guidance.
ALSO, the House of Representatives has commenced a nationwide audit of over 11,000 abandoned federal government-owned properties, with a commitment to establish a central database and develop strategies to restore value to these idle national assets.
Inaugurating the Ad-hoc Committee on Abandoned Federal Government Landed Properties, in Abuja yesterday, the Chairman of the committee, Daniel Amos, said the exercise was a critical step toward ending decades of waste, neglect and loss of revenue associated with unused public properties across the country.
The House had last week set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the abandoned federal government–owned landed properties and buildings across the country, reportedly valued at over N20 trillion.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), during plenary.
Speaking during the inauguration of the committee, Amos described the assignment as both technical and moral, stressing that each abandoned property represented deferred development and a failure of public accountability.
Earlier in his remarks, Abbas said abandoned public facilities had become glaring symbols of waste and weak governance. He vowed that the 10th House would not look away.
MEANWHILE, the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security also intensified its probe yesterday into alleged massive diversion and mismanagement of billions of naira allocated to agricultural intervention programmes.
Opening the third public hearing in Abuja, the Chairman of the committee, Chike Okafor, stated that lawmakers were examining how key agencies outside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture managed funds intended to boost food production and alleviate hunger.
He listed the interventions under scrutiny, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, which reportedly disbursed N1.12 trillion to 4.67 million farmers; NIRSAL’s N255.61 billion support for 915 agribusiness projects; the Bank of Industry’s N59.4 billion financing of agro-processors; and federal recovery funds for ginger blight control.
He said allegations ranging from diversion of funds to ghost beneficiaries, inflated costs, and poor repayment records demand urgent legislative scrutiny and full transparency from all involved institutions.
