The Senate appears to be breaking the cor­ruption hard nut in Nigeria’s import and export sectors as it disclosed that some chief executive of­ficers (CEOs) of 60 companies being investigated for N30 tril­lion revenue leakages have owned up.

  The money was declared missing in the country’s import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.

This is even as the So­cio-Economic Rights and Ac­countability Project (SERAP) disclosed that Nigeria lost N11 trillion to corruption in the power sector during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan administrations.

  According to the Chair­man, Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tar­iff and Marine Transport, Sen­ator Hope Uzodinma, probing the scam, some firms have ad­mitted their involvement in the N30 trillion graft.

  He told newsmen after drilling some of the CEOs in Abuja yesterday, that “they have started confessing their misdeeds.”

The lawmaker affirmed that no amount of blackmail would deter the probe panel from carrying out its constitutional roles, particularly with regard to issues that have direct impact on Nigerians.

  Uzodinma said: “If there is anybody who is still in doubt whether there are recoverable revenues of government in the hands of these companies, by the admission of some of them, it means that the person should better wake up. We call on all Nigerians to support the Senate. What we are doing and showing by this inves­tigation is that the country can be better and that we can move from where we are now to where we expect the country to be,’’ he stressed.

He added that insinuations that the investigation was shrouded in secrecy were unfounded, pointing out that the commit­tee was being careful in disclos­ing certain details, as the investi­gation was still on-going.  “We are not shrouding any­thing in secrecy. The public is in­terested in this investigation and you know the Stock Exchange is an important platform for trade in Nigeria. We don’t want to cre­ate unnecessary panic in the stock market as some of the companies under investigation are public quoted companies.

“There is a signal we will let out to the public that will destroy the image and integrity of these companies. We have not arrived at any conclusion yet because the investigations are still on,” he stressed.

Uzodinma further disclosed that of the over 60 companies being investigated, the commit­tee had met with the CEOs of 11 of them. He said in the new phase, the committee was meeting with each of the firms at a time and would continue in that manner until they were exhausted. He said “some of the compa­nies approached the committee and expressed their willingness to support our investigation be­cause the process of the investiga­tion may require them revealing some of their trade secrets.

“In other not to breach the secrecy that has to do with their business modules, we agreed to their terms because our interest is to achieve result. Some of the companies that appeared before us today have also committed to our success by way of making some admissions here and there,’’ he stated.

The companies which met with the committee yesterday were Dana Group, China Ex­port, Emel Group, Halliburton, Bhojson Plc, Bharat Ventures Ltd, Bua International Ltd, Friesland Campina, Boulos Group, CFAO Group and British American To­bacco Company.

The Authority