Senate panel probes sale of 1.7m barrels of crude by EFCC

The Senate Committee on Finance has launched investigation into the alleged sale of seized 1.7 million barrels of crude oil by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Director of Operations of the Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral Sola Oluwagbire, had at an interactive session on revenue leakage in the maritime sector, yesterday, told the panel that the crude barrels were seized by the Nigerian Navy between 2021 and first quarter of 2022 from oil thieves.

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He told the committee that the seized vessels were handed over to the EFCC since the Nigerian Navy was not a prosecuting agency.

When asked the whereabouts of the confiscated crude by the committee’s chairman, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, Oluwagbire said the anti-graft agency had disposed of them.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, when asked if the proceeds of the sales had been remitted in the Federation Account, said “I am not aware how the seized products were handled.”