Reps summon Magu, Emefiele, Baru over ‘stolen $17bn’

The house of representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged $17 billion undeclared oil proceed has summoned Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to appear before it on Tuesday.

Abdulrazak Namdas, chairman of the committee, summoned Magu on Monday at the opening of the investigation where all the invited stakeholders sent their subordinates to represent them.

The committee has commenced investigation into alleged 17 billion dollars stolen from undeclared crude oil and liquefied natural gas exports to global destinations.

Also summoned by the ad hoc committee were Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Others were Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and Ahmed Idris, accountant general of the federation.

The committee also summoned Stephen Sejebor, group general manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), and Modecai Ladan, director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Namdas, who is the spokesman of the house, noted that since the nation lived by oil proceeds, no fight against corruption could be meaningful without serious search-light on the industry.

He said especially when the perpetrators are the high and mighty “who inexorably are the models the society look up to”.

He said the house would not hesitate to invoke its constitutional powers to compel the invited chief executives to appear, if they default.

Namdas therefore turned back directors and other management staff who were sent as representatives of their respective organisations.

Meanwhile, Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house, said the incidence of stolen and missing money at the NNPC and the entire oil industry was now an albatross to the development of the nation.

Dogara, who declared the public hearing open, lamented that if not for the constant theft in the oil industry, the nation would not have been in economic recession at the moment.

“The incidence of money missing in the industry has become a recurrent decimal to the point that news items in the media are incomplete without mention of the ills of the industry,” he said.

“The reports of the media on the ills in oil industry clearly attest to the concern of the government to tackle corruption in the industry head on.”

Dogara was represented by Yakubu Barde, the minority whip, rep.