Reps to probe $17bn worth of stolen crude

Following information that Nigeria has a recoverable shortfall of well over $17 billion from undeclared crude oil and liquified natural gas exported to global markets, the House of Representatives has set up adhoc committee to investigate the matter.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas, disclosed this in a document made available to The Daily Times, yesterday, in Abuja.
Hon. Namdas, who is also the House committee chairman in charge of media and publicity, lamented that the probe has become necessary to recover the funds so that the country can tackle current economic challenges facing it.
“President Buhari is currently seeking to borrow about $30 billion, why should we close our eyes to such a revelation that Nigeria has well over half of that fund diverted by oil marketers and producers?” he queried.
Namdas, who vowed to ensure the recovery of the fund, said when recovered, the money will go a long way to help federal government fund the 2017 budget, especially in the area of development of infrastructure.
“What we are aware of as at today is that the country has to its credit over $17 billion of recoverable shortfall from undeclared crude oil exports to global destinations.”
The probe, according to the document, emanated from a motion by the member representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha federal constituency, Hon. Agbonayinma J.E.
The document revealed that the discovery of the loses followed the engagement of an international audit firm, Molecular Power System (Nigeria) limited, which was engaged to provide technical data, including records of crude oil and liquified natural gas lifting in Nigeria, as obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and landing certificates at global destinations to verify possibilities of non declaration to the federal government by multinational companies.
The report had noted that critical data evidence shows “shipments to the United States of America between 2011 and 2014, December, through NNPC data and CBN pre-shipment inspection report show an undeclared crude oil shortfall of 57,830,000 of Nigerian crude oil, translating to well over $12 billion, to the USA and also $3 billion to China and $839,522,600 to Norway.”
The document also shows that the investigations were done in about 51 countries, where Nigeria’s crude oil has been exported, while the discoveries of the USA being the largest receiver of Nigeria’s crude was made available to former President Goodluck Jonathan, the then  Attorney General,  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The House said it is dismayed that “the physicalization policy of the federal government, which warrants loading of crude oil from Nigeria to be monitored by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Navy, the Customs, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and NIMASA, has been crippled over the years, till date.”
“The House is also dismayed that these data so gathered, shows for NLG shortfall, a total of 727,460 metric tons of Liquified Natural Gas, estimated at about $461,004 million, was firmly established shortfall from shipments to seven countries’ ports of entry, and have been established as undeclared cargoes.
The probe, according to the report, will see over 20 companies, two federal government agencies, two law firms and consultants earlier appointed by the federal government providing evidence on what they know about the thefts.