Reps to probe Alison-Madueke, NNPC, Shell, others over $750m oil deals

House of Representatives is to probe Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dieziani Alison-Madueke, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Ltd, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept, Septa Energy Ltd and some other entities over their alleged involvement in illegal allocation of seven oil blocs in the Niger Delta.
The loss to government from the said oil bloc deals amounts to $750 million.
The House decided to probe key players in the deals following a motion brought under Matters of Urgent National Importance by Victor Afam Ogene, who, while introducing the issue, cited Order viii, Rule 46/Rule 49 of the House to support his position. Ogene in the motion drew the attention of the House to last week’s protest staged at the National Assembly complex by representatives of oil-producing ethnic nationalities from Delta State. The protesters had alleged fraudulent allocation of some marginal oil fields, including oil mining leases (OMLs) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42.
The House at the end of the debate resolved that an ad-hoc committee be raised to handle the probe. The committee is to be given four weeks to conduct its investigations and report back to the House in plenary.