Others due to appear before the Committee chaired by Hon. Wole Oke are: Mr Jonah Otunla, former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Steve Oronsaye former Head of Service of the Federation as well as top officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance and aggrieved pre-shipment contractors.
The affected officials are being summoned to appear before the committee over alleged infractions in the Public Procurement Act, 2007 in other to ascertain their roles in the payment of N17 billion to pre-shipment inspectors and monitors of oil terminals between 2011 and 2017.
The Committee had at the last sitting uncovered five ghost firms which benefited from the N17billion reportedly paid out by the Ministry of Finance though fake documents.
The lawmakers, who decried the discrepancies between the submissions made by Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), observed that out of the 12 pre-shipment inspectors and two monitors who benefited from the N17 billion, seven were appointed in line with due process while five were appointed through the back-door.
The Chairman of the committee who canvassed for overhauling of the entire process, observed that a former Governor of Bauchi State and former member of the House of Representatives who was part of those who enacted the procurement law were sentenced to five years imprisonment as well as a former Chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) was also sentenced to two years imprisonment on the breach of procurement legislation before the Supreme Court intervened.
While responding to questions, Mr Isa Dutse, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who denied knowledge of the N17 billion payment to the pre-shipment inspectors and monitors, said: “I have to confirm further. I’m not familiar with those payments but the Director of Finance is here. I have to personally check.”
On her part, the Director of Finance, Mrs Siyanbola who aligned with the Permanent Secretary’s position, noted that the CBN was administratively in charge of managing the NESS fund.
Despite the lawmakers’ insistence that the President had nullified the Ministry’s request for extension of the pre-shipment inspection tenure since 2015, Siyanbola argued that the contractors were still at the terminals adding that three months extension as earlier granted to them.
While ruling on the motion for summoning the Minister of Finance, Oke directed the Minister who submit Presidential approvals for extension of the pre-shipment inspection contract, agreement with the contractors, performance records based on which the payments were approved and pre-shipment budget and procurement plan.
He also mandated the Minister and Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Finance to set up a technical team to enable the Committee inspect the oil terminals and pre-shipment facilities.
The Chairman further noted that the ongoing investigative hearing was aimed at strengthening existing institutions and amending relevant legislative frameworks that would aid transparency, accountability and fight against corruption in the country.
Oke who stressed the need for thorough probe of the entire pre-shipment inspection process, disclosed that “all the submissions made by various agencies and operators were at variance,” hence the need to scrutinise the entire process.
According to him, the CBN and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) through their submissions were at variance on whether or not the appointed pre-shipment inspectors was necessary and whether or not the exercise was carried out by the inspectors and monitors.
and then