Reps Reduce N543.6 Billion in Judgment Debt Payment

The House of Representatives adjourned on Wednesday without clearing the immediate-past President Muhammadu Buhari's loan request for the Federal Government to settle some judgment debts totaling N543,594,989,247.

On Wednesday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Aids, Loans, and Debt Management, Ahmed Dayyabu, tabled the report on the presidential request, but legislators decided that work on it had not been completed and postponed its consideration until the 10th House. 

Buhari had written to the National Assembly last month, at the end of his presidency, to request clearance for payment of judgment debts owing by the government totaling $566,754,584.31, £98,526,012.00, and N226,281,801,881.64.

The debt is roughly N543,594,989,247 when the dollar is translated to N261,149,177,358.36 and the pound sterling is converted to N56,164,010,008.15.

The government would make the payment through the issuing of promissory notes, according to the President, in a letter written to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Meanwhile, the House debated and approved the report of the 'Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Alleged Loss of Over $2.4bn in Revenue from the Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil in 2015, Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 to Date.'

The committee's chairman, Mark Gbillah, presented the findings earlier on Tuesday, but the panel still summoned additional key officials from the previous government during its last investigation meeting on Monday.

The committee disproved the claim that $2.4 billion was lost due to the illegal export of 48 million barrels of crude oil in 2015. 

On the alleged loss of over $2.4bn in revenue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015, the committee said it found the allegation to be false.

The report read, “The committee advises the National Assembly (Senate and the House), anti-graft and other agencies of the government not to waste taxpayer’s funds on further future investigation of these allegations, as they appear to be completely fraudulent and unsubstantiated.

“The security and anti-graft agencies should be advised to prosecute any of the individuals who initially made these allegations, if any one of them continues to peddle these false allegations after the committee’s investigation.

“The Abuja High Court handling the case against the related individuals is advised to resume the hearing and prosecution of the case, so justice can be meted out appropriately if any of the individuals are found culpable.

“Mr Jackson Ude and Point Blank News should be advised to issue a public retraction of their publication of these allegations on their website and other media outlets, considering the damage this publication has done to the reputation of related government officials and should strongly be admonished to be more circumspect in their future publications.” 

Concerning Nigeria's crude oil sales and exports from 2014 to the present, the committee stated, "All the oil and gas companies the committee requested information from did not provide most of the information requested for while some of them refused to respond or appear before the committee."

The panel said that the lack of timely replies from the firms and the approaching conclusion of the 9th Assembly "prevented the committee from comprehensively concluding its investigation on this aspect of its mandate."