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The panel also summoned Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, to explain her role in the alleged infraction.
The panel chaired by Mark Gbillah was mandated to probe the sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil worth over $2.4 billion and crude oil export to global destinations from 2014 to date.
Gbillah gave the directive at the resumed hearing of the panel.
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“We will make this further appeal to the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General and all others who have not responded or who have not honoured the committee’s invitations to do so in the national interest, and in the event that they fail to do so, we will be constrained to invoke the instrument of summons and all other necessary powers the National Assembly can exercise in this regard,” Gbillah said.
He said his panel is interested in knowing where the Attorney General derived powers to approve payment of funds meant for the federation without recourse to the legislature.
He said: “We have not been getting any form of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s office regarding this investigation, despite series of correspondents sent to them on this matters that we are investigating.
“We’ve seen documentations from the Accountant General’s office, where the Minister of Finance approved the payment of substantial amount of money to so-called whistleblowers, where details of monies recovered were not provided.
“We’ve heard media reports by the Federal Government indicating that millions of dollars were recovered through whistleblower revelations on behalf of the country. But we, as a parliament, have not seen where those monies were routed through the constitutional appropriation process before they were expended. The constitution is very clear about the receipt and expenditure of Nigeria’s money.”
“We need the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General to appear before this House to provide clarity on the inflows that have come in from whistleblowers recoveries, and about these monies that were recovered.
“And the Central Bank of Nigeria is required to provide information that has been provided by these whistleblowers about substantial amounts of monies that were paid supposedly and allegedly for consultancy services when there’s no record of any agreement entered into by those companies regarding any services.
“These are very weighty allegations and as a responsible House, we owe everybody fair hearing and a benefit of doubt, and this is what we’ve been seeking to accord those who have been mentioned in these allegations.”
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