The
Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, who expressed this
view, also took a swipe at the Nigerian Minister of petroleum
resources, Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke over her call for EFCC’s
probe into the activities of her ministry.

Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor
Rev. Ugolor "I find this absurd and cannot
understand what is happening in this country anymore
`` It is
an irony that the minister of Petroleum Resources, whose ministry is
accused of
Corruption is the same person setting up the
probe into her ministry.
``What will come out of such a probe? He
asked rhetorically.
Ugolor told
NNEWS that ``In the course of
the weeklong paralysis of the Nigerian economy occasioned by the
strike and protests called by organised labour and Civil Society
Organisations over the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal
Government, Nigerians openly asked President Goodluck Jonathan among
several other questions:
```Why did
the Federal Government not deal with the issue of corruption which
informed its decision to remove subsidy on PMS?
He said that they find it absurd that the
Minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison Madueke to have
invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe
activities of her ministry regarding fuel subsidy management.
`She will set up a committee to work with
the anti-graft agency to discharge their duties along other measures
being taken to respond to the issue of corruption in the petroleum
ministry.
Ugolor noted that "Nigerians cannot be fooled
by this charade called probe in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
`` In law, you cannot be a judge in your own
case. That is what Diezani Alison Madueke seems to be doing right now.
`` We think that it is in her interest for an independent body to look
into the books she supervised. This, in our view is important against
the backdrop of allegations by the National Assembly that the
petroleum ministry paid out more billions of Naira on PMS subsidy than
was approved for it in the 2011 budget.
"Again, the President in his broadcast to the
nation on Monday morning promised Nigerians that the report of the
forensic audit carried out on the NNPC is being studied with a view to
implementing the recommendations and sanctioning proven acts of
corruption in the industry."
The activist then recalled that
the auditors, KPMG and another Nigerian
auditing firm, S.S. Afemikhe & Co, had x-rayed the books of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after the 36 state
Governors had raised the issue of allegation of “wrongful deductions
at source by the NNPC to fund its operations”
He then asked ``why the long delay in
releasing the audit report? Why is the Federal Ministry of Finance or
Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) not
taking a lead on the subsidy scandal?
``Why are they not taking the lead in the
re-examination of the KPMG forensic audit report Why should the
Petroleum Minister who presided over the sleaze take the lead in the
probe?" ANEEJ boss queried.
"It is for these reasons that we demand
independent investigations into all of these weighty allegations. We
want President Goodluck Jonathan to get to the bottom of all these and
there should be no cover-ups, otherwise, the consequences would be
worse than could be imagined.
"President Goodluck Jonathan does not only
have to show to Nigerians and the international Community that his
administration is responding to the monumental corruption in the oil
industry, it needs to demonstrate its commitment to Nigerians that he
"
is
irrevocably committed to tackling corruption in the petroleum industry
as well as other sectors of the economy," as announced in his Monday
broadcast.".
Meanwhile, the Nigerian
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Tuesday said
that payments made in respect of fuel subsidy by the NNPC lacked
transparency and due process.
Prof. Assisi Asobie, Chairman of the Board
of NEITI said this in Abuja at an investigative hearing organised by
the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Management of
Fuel Subsidy.
It is recalled that the house had at an
emergency session on Jan. 8, constituted an ad hoc committee to
investigate the fuel subsidy regime in the country.
Prof. Assobie said that subsidy payments
should be made from the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Petroleum
Equalisation Fund.
The NEITI chairman said that payment could
only be effected on the approval of the Accountant-General of the
Federation (AGF) with the approval of the Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
``Payment should be made only on the
approval of the AGF based on claims approved by PPPRA,’’ he said.
He accused the NNPC of deducting directly
from estimated amounts from the domestic crude proceeds before
remitting the rest to the federation Account.
The NEITI boss maintained that NNPC, like
other petroleum product importers, should draw claims for subsidy
after verification of its claims by the PPPRA and approval by the NNPC.
He said that during the audit of the oil
and gas sector for 2006 and 2008, NEITI discovered inadequacies that
complicated the problem of accurate determination of volume of
imported petroleum products into the country.
According to him, in 2006 to 2008, the
total oil lifted from the country was 8.8 million barrels, while NNPC
lifted 4.8 million barrels.
He said that from 2002, NNPC lifted
domestic crude at market price, providing incentive for export of
domestic crude rather that domestic refining of all crude.
Prof. Asobie said that the measurement
methods used by PPMC and DPR were not in line with international best
practices, saying this could not be relied upon.
He said that the methods used for recording
the movement of refined products through the PPMC pipeline system were
outdated, paper-based and subject to error.
The chairman therefore advised the NNPC and
PPMC to strengthen their controls over product importation and
distribution.
The Nigerian senate has also warned the
EFCC not to treat with levity anyone found culpable in the
mismanagement of the subsidy funds as `sacred cows.’’
The upper legislative chamber hinted that
the EFCC was in the first instance created the subsidy crisis.
The senate, which gave the warning
following EFCC’s raid on the office of the Petroleum Products Pricing
and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) followed an invitation by the petroleum
ministry to investigate the management of fuel subsidy.
The EFCC on Monday swooped on the PPPRA’s
office in Abuja, demanding for documents relating to the
administration of petroleum subsidy.
The invitation to the EFCC to investigate
the management of the fuel subsidy scheme followed demands for
transparency and accountability in governance especially in the oil
and gas sector