Nine months after the Senate resolved to investigate alleged $25b contract scam in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation no positive step has so far been taken to provide details to anxious Nigerians.
After its inaugural meeting in October 2017, the committee soon buckled under pressure, allegedly mounted on it by the Presidency, and other interested parties, within and without the National Assembly.
Led by a former governor of Sokoto State and a staunch member of the All Progressives Congress Aliu Wamakko, the committee faced scathing criticisms after its chairman visited the Presidential Villa, only a few days after the body was inaugurated.
The Senate had in the first week of October 2017, resolved to carry out the investigation following the disclosure by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, of alleged non-disclosure in the award of $25b worth of contracts by the national oil company.
Signs that the exercise may not sail smoothly emerged quite early when the take-off of the investigation suffered initial postponements, before the committee eventually went into coma.
In the last postponement, which was announced by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu on October 17, 2017, Nigerians were informed that the investigation would commence in earnest the following Tuesday and it never happened.