Reps move to retrieve alleged $17 billion undeclared oil, gas proceeds

The House of Representatives yesterday took steps towards recovering $17 billion in allegedly undeclared proceeds from oil and gas.The House has thus constituted an ad hoc committee led by the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas to bring to book those who perpetrated the act.

Namdas, who spoke at the inauguration of the committee, disclosed that twenty oil companies including the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Shell Western Supply and Trading, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Exxon Mobil, Televaras Petroleum Trading Bd, Consolidated Oil Limited and Duke Oil Company Limited are to appear before the committee to clear the air on the issue.

Namdas claimed that preliminary reports indicate that over five million barrels of Nigeria crude oil were illegally exported and sold in the United States of America (U.S.A.) between January 2011 and December 2014.

He further stated that the estimated revenue loss by Nigeria is put at $12, 722, 600, 327 at an exchange rate of N196 to $1, translating to over N2 trillion.He added: “The committee shall no doubt do justice to this investigation and make necessary recommendations to recover our stolen crude oil money. There is no better time to do this exercise than now that we are in a recession. May God help us.”

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Sulaimon Yussuff Lasun, who inaugurated the committee, charged it not to do everthing to unearth those behind the pilferage of the country’s resources.