The Senate Committee on Local Content has intensified pressure on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board following allegations of financial misconduct tied to the Board’s investment in Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited. The committee has summoned the Executive Secretary, Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, to appear and defend the agency’s role in the troubled transaction flagged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Lawmakers reached the decision after a closed-door session in Abuja, insisting that the NCDMB must provide thirty copies of all supporting documents a week before the December 9 appearance. Their directive comes amid heightened scrutiny over EFCC claims involving funds reportedly placed by the Board in a refinery project that has since become the subject of intense controversy.
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Committee Chairman Senator Joel-Onowakpo Thomas disclosed that the NCDMB leadership had earlier failed to honour an invitation to address the matter, which includes the EFCC’s declaration of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, as wanted over alleged conspiracy and the reported unlawful conversion of $14.86 million. He stressed that the funds were believed to have been committed by the Board toward establishing a refinery, underlining the gravity of the allegations.
Although the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies are still investigating, the committee resolved to give the Executive Secretary another chance to present the Board’s explanations. The motion to compel his appearance within 2 weeks was moved by Senator Agom Jarigbe, sealing the Senate’s readiness to dig deeper into a case that has already stirred considerable public interest.
