Nigeria's Minister of Petroleum Diezani Allison-Madueke
A member of the House of Representatives, Moshood Mustapha, has
criticised the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and her
Petroleum Resources counterpart, Diezani Madueke, for refusing to
release the forensic audit report on the operations of the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Mr. Mustapha, a member of All Progressives Congress from Kwara State,
is the Vice-Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources.
The audit, undertaken by international firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers,
indicted the NNPC and recommended that the national oil company refund
about $1.48billion to the Federation Account for various unreconciled
transactions.
The investigation was carried out over claim that $20 billion oil money had not been accounted for the government-owned company.
The Nigerian government has refused to make the report public despite
public outcry. President Goodluck Jonathan only ordered the release of a
“highlight” of the report early February, several months after the
completion of work by PwC.
Analysts believe the report contains far more serious indictment than
reflected in the “highlight”, hence the government’s decision to keep
the document under wraps as a crucial election approaches.
In February, Ms. Alison-Madueke said the report will not be published
ahead of the elections because Nigeria’s “rabid opposition” will find
“all sorts of minute detail (in the full report) to create concern.”
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and Alison-Madueke have refused to release the
report despite a one-week ultimatum by the House of Representatives.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Mustapha condemned the refusal to
publish the audit report, describing it as “part of characteristic
impunity that defines this government”.
“A minister will feel she can do anything since she has a president
that tolerates corruption or when she can go to the judiciary for
injunctions to prevent the legislature from doing their constitutional
work,” he said.
“Even if she does not honour the ultimatum issued to her to submit
the audit report, we could have asked the police to arrest her but is
the police independent under this administration to act rightly? But
then, we allow Nigerians to see and judge them. And that’s why change is
imminent come March 28. It’s not about Sarakis, Buharis, Ameachis but Nigerians’ determination to stop impunity and misgovernance,” he said.
He added that, “it seems to me as insanity when a government sees
constructive criticism of the opposition as frustration. For me
criticism from APC should make the PDP government more hardworking and
do better in terms of governance, having had the consciousness some
people are there to check them. Democracy as well as good governance is
not possible without viable opposition,”
Mr. Mustapha said the current setting of Nigeria’s petroleum industry
is characterised by a lack of transparency and accountability. This, he
said, denies the government and citizens “huge funds that should have
been freed up for developmental purposes.”
“The way it is nobody knows the quantity of oil we produce. Nobody
knows what we earn daily, monthly or yearly. Nobody knows what we pay as
part of our obligations in the exploration of crude oil. Nobody knows
the account into which proceeds paid and in certain and transparent
terms, what goes into the federation account daily.
“Let me give you an example which many find inconsequential but which
in reality affects our development drive in this country. The funds
meant for operation of Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) are not
being remitted. With that, many of our citizens on scholarship abroad
have been abandoned and not been funded adequately. Similarly, PTDF has
been stifled and finds it difficult to perform its even domestic
obligations in different areas including education which is the bedrock
of any development,” he said.
Responding to the question of solution to the absence of
accountability and transparency in the petroleum industry, the lawmaker
said, “The way out is to have the Petroleum Industry Bill in place. “
“It is to regulate the oil and gas industry and promote transparency,
accountability and best practices. It will also reform the regulatory,
structural, commercial, as well as the fiscal framework of Nigeria’s
petroleum industry in order to stop the mismanagement, inefficiency and
lack of transparency that characterise the sector.”
He said the National Assembly was careful in passing the law to ensure Nigerians are given the best provisions.
Credit: premiumtimesng
No comments:
Post a Comment