House Probes 2014 Crude Oil Earnings
Muhammad Bello The House of Representatives yesterday established an ad hoc committee to find out the true position of the nations’ crude oil earnings in 2014.
It also set up another committee to investigate the alleged involvement of Universal Energy Resources Limited in illegal lifting of crude oil.
Prompted by a motion of urgent public importance moved by Deputy Whip of the House, Hon. Samson Osagie (Edo-APC), the House resolved to scrutinise a report by Standard and Poor, an international rating agency, which said Nigeria’s economy is “in clear and present danger.’’
The committee also promised to investigate the disparity between a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealing that the nation earned N12.8 trillion from crude oil exports in 2014 “as against our total national budget of less than N5 trillion.”
Osagie was disturbed by “the dwindling fortunes of Nigerian economy resulting from the fall in the international price of crude oil and the huge expenditures on the fight against insurgency.
He said: “the Standard and Poor, being one of the most respected rating agencies globally, has identified Nigerian economy is weak in three areas.
“These are institutional and governance effectiveness, economic structure and growths, physical flexibility and performance,’’ he said.
The lawmaker said the revelations were in sharp conflict with the general impression being created on the true state of the economy by the handlers of the Nigerian economy particularly the ministry of finance.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, suspended the debate on the matter, stating that doing so will jeopardise the motion.
“We are calling for investigation and I don’t think we should go into the matter ourselves,’’ Tambuwal added.
The House unanimously agreed to mandate an ad hoc committee to carry out investigations on the matter and make appropriate recommendations to the house within three weeks.
Equally, the House gave two weeks to another committee chaired by Hon. Friday Itulah (Edo, PDP), to conclude investigation into the crude oil lifting allegation against Universal Energy Resource Limited.