last night considering the latest offer
from President Goodluck Jonathan to
scale down the price of petrol to between N110 and N120. The President also directed the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, to immediately
commence a probe of the utilization of
the more than N1.3 trillion subsidy
fund. President Jonathan in meetings with
a select team of labour leaders was
understood to have made the offer
with a proviso that full deregulation
of the sector would commence in
April. The offer from the President followed
a string of talks with stakeholders
including governors and the leadership
of the National Assembly. Earlier yesterday, labour blamed the
administration for the failure of talks
between both parties lamenting that
government’s insistence on discussing
price reduction instead of a reversal of
the petrol price to N65 as being demanded by Nigerians was
responsible for the failure of the
talks.
The decision to probe the
management of the subsidy funds
followed a request to the EFCC by the
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Dizeanni Allison-Madueke. The Minister in a statement yesterday
personally signed by her said she had
written the EFCC inviting the
commission to intervene in the matter.
The letter dated January 12, 2012
said: “Following the removal of fuel subsidy
on January 1, 2012 and the ensuring
protests that followed the
announcement, it is clear that the
Nigerian people are demanding for
better accountability and transparency in the oil industry, these actions have
to be taken. ”With presidential approval, I have
written to invite the EFCC to
immediately review all payments made
in respect of subsidies on fuel and
kerosene and to take all necessary
steps to prosecute any incidence of malfeasance, fraud, over-invoicing,
and related illegalities in an open and
transparent manner”, she said. According to the statement: “I have
set up a unit in my office to be
headed by an independent auditor to
review the report of KPMG and other
audit reports of NNPC and other
parastatals, and immediately begin implementation of their findings,
ensuring, at all times, full probity and
value for money. ”I am em-paneling another unit in my
office to begin a comprehensive
review of the management and
controls within all parastatals in the
Ministry of Petroleum Resources,
including but not limited to NNPC, PPPRA, and DPR. Accordingly, I expect a report in 30
days to enable us take further action
in reforming management, personnel,
and other practices and procedures in
parastatals within the ministry. It
should be noted however that this process has already begun in PPPRA,
and DPR where management changes
and reforms are beginning to yield
desirable results. ”I will be meeting with Senate
President and the Speaker of House
of Representatives in the coming
week to seek their co-operation and
leadership in the quick passage of the
petroleum industry bill so that we can anchor the comprehensive reform of
the oil industry”, the statement said.
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