The Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations of corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC).
Another committee was also set up to probe allegations of corruption levelled against Ibrahim Idris, Inspector General of Police, by Isah Misau, a senator.
The motion for an investigation into the affairs of the NNPC was sponsored by Samuel Anyanwu and supported by Yusuf Abubakar and Kabiru Gaya.
Anyanwu noted that the allegations raised by Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in a recent memo to President Muhammadu Buhari, could not be swept under the carpet, given that the NNPC is almost the sole foreign exchange earner for the country.
The committee will be headed by Aliyu Wammako, and its members are: Tayo Alasoadura, Kabir Marafa, Akpan Bassey, Sam Anyanwu, Ahmed Ogembe, Chukwuka Utazi, Rose Oko and Baba Kaka.
“We must investigate this allegation and hope the quality of report will meet the standard we have set in the 8th Senate,” said Bukola Saraki, Senate President, after the announcement of the composition of the committee.
Similarly, the formation of a probe panel on the IGP followed the allegations by Misau that the police boss collects billions in bribe money in order to provide influential Nigerians with personal police security.
Misau, himself a retired police officer, told journalists during a phone interview in August: “Specifically, the IGP, on good authority from within the force, collects over N10 billion on monthly basis as money for special security provided by men of the force to corporate bodies and highly placed individuals, including criminals, running to N120 billion on a yearly basis without any reflection in the police’ annual budget or internally generated revenue.
“On nepotism, the IGP is scoring high marks by making almost half of the mobile commanders in the country people of his Nupe extraction.”
The committee to probe the IGP will be headed by Francis Aliimikhena; its members are: Joshua Lidani, Binta Garba, Nelson Effiong, Obinna Ogba, Duro Faseyi, and Abdul-Aziz Nyako.