Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki spoke the mind of many Nigerians the other time when he decried the corruption embedded in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). His concern, coming as the organisation confirmed details of fuel subsidy regime which government had stopped about three years ago, is a reminder that all is not well with the organisation. Until the corporation undergoes a major cleansing of its corruption ailment, the country is unlikely to make any staggering progress.
Interestingly, prominent citizens have in the past lamented perceived high level of graft in the Octopus organisation. Curiously however, no one has been able to muster the political courage to take holistic measures to unravel the assumed corruption. It should agitate the mind of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), investigating subsidy payment to extend its investigation into alleged corruption in the corporation.
A few days ago, NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru told the Senate Committee that the federal government spent a staggering N4,950.80 trillion on fuel subsidy between January 2006 and December 2015. The corporation’s Chief Financial Officer who gave details of the operations, recalled that fuel subsidy regime started in October 2003 when government directed the NNPC to buy domestic crude oil at international price without a corresponding liberalisation of the regulated price of petroleum products.
Sadly, the country has since then been unable to disentangle itself from the corruption web that has been continually woven around fuel subsidy. Shortly after the present administration of General Muhammadu Buhari came into government in 2015, government announced a total removal of subsidy on petroleum products, bringing the price of petrol to N143 – N145 per litre. Paying the price was painful to Nigerians who hoped nonetheless that the action would foreclose the huge financial scam that fuel subsidy has become.
That relief was short-lived by recent admission that government has again been subsidising fuel. Saraki’s quest for “critical reforms” of the downstream oil and gas industry is particularly informed by his observation that despite the stoppage of the fuel subsidy regime, and non-appropriation for the scheme, the “fuel subsidy payments continue to be paid from our commomwealth illegally without appropriation by the National Assembly.”
Besides Saraki, former Governor of Central Bank, and now Emir of kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, regularly decried alleged corruption in the NNPC and the petroleum industry. In 2013, Sanusi wrote to the then President Goodluck Jonathan that NNPC failed to remit $20 billion oil revenue to the federation account, an allegation that the corporation denied.
However, shadows of financial irregularities continue to haunt NNPC since then, as manifested in the fact that many past leaders of the corporation have corrupt charges or investigation hanging over them. In virtually all the cases, Nigerians are yet to be informed of the whole truth surrounding the inquiries.
The aura of lack of transparency on NNPC seems to have aggravated over the past two years following President Buhari’s assumption of the Petroleum Minister portfolio. As Minister, Buhari has not spoken much on matters affecting his ministry; while information coming from the minister of state is limited in authority. As witnessed recently, Kachikwu’s authority was actually questioned by the corporation’s GMD. All these facts tend to portray the NNPC as a fertile organisation for perpetrating corruption.
The executive obviously lacks the political will to sanitize NNPC; but the number 3 citizen (Saraki)’s interest in cleansing the corporation provides a ray of hope for Nigerians angling for such sanitisation. Saraki should live his talk by ensuring that NNPC’s financial accounts are publicly and professionally scrutinised to expose hidden irregularities.
An independent commission of inquiry is ideal for the task of investigating the corporation to unravel not just the suspected fuel subsidy scam, but also the several allegations of missing moneys and fraudulent contracts. The findings of such an investigation should be made public and appropriate action taken against erring personnel. To enable him concentrate on other pressing state matters, President Buhari should divest himself of the onerous responsibility of superintending the petroleum ministry; and appoint one of the many eminently qualified Nigerians to perform the job.
The post NNPC, Fuel Subsidy And Corruption appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
NNPC, Fuel Subsidy And Corruption
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