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The Senate yesterday said over $850 billion supposedly earned between 1996 and 2014 from crude oil export was yet to be repatriated to the country by the Joint Venture Oil Companies.
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The development, it noted, was in total contravention of Nigeria’s Pre-shipment Inspection of Export Act and Article 26 of Export Policy Guidelines and procedures for crude oil, gas and non-oil goods.
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Also, the upper legislative chamber confirmed that Nigeria has been exporting oil and non-oil products without documentation since June 2015. As a result, the country has lost over N23.6bn being expected proceeds of the export within the period.
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The various revelations were made during an investigative public hearing organized by a Joint Committee of the Senate Committees on Finance, Trade and Investment, Gas, Petroleum Upstream, Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Customs, Excise and Tariff on the “Need to Investigate Pre Shipment Inspection of Export Activities in Nigeria.
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Senate President, Bukola Saraki, expressed his dissatisfaction over the refusal of the JVCs to repatriate crude oil export proceeds of over $850bn and warned the companies against flouting the laws of the country in which they were doing business. He said those found wanting in the development would be made to face the wrath of the country’s law.
