LEADERSHIP
The House of Representatives has again invited the attorney general of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over allegations that he approved the payment of $200 million to two private firms as consultancy services fees on whistleblowers recoveries.
The House also invited the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed Shamsuna to explain her role in the said approvals and payment without providing details of actual recoveries from whistleblowers.
The House of Representatives made the threat through its ad-hoc committee investigating the sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil amounting to over $2.4 billion and crude oil export to global destinations from 2014 to date.
Chairman of the committee, Hon Mark Gbillah at the resumed hearing of the investigation complained that both ministers have been uncooperative with the panel despite several letters of invitation.
“We have not been getting any form of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s office regarding this investigation despite a 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 Finance approved the payment of substantial significant 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 whistle blower 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,” he said.
According to Gbilah, the committee is particularly interested in knowing where the Attorney General derives his powers to approve payment of funds meant for the federation without recourse to the legislature through formal request by the executive…
Connect with us on our socials: