NNPC multiple accounts

Referring to the situation as improper the President recalled his days as the nation’s oil minister when the Corporation was established and operated only three accounts. As the oil minister then, Buhari served as the first Chairman of the Corporation. His observation therefore is more significant than may be casually appreciated as it reflects the […]

Referring to the situation as improper the President recalled his days as the nation’s oil minister when the Corporation was established and operated only three accounts. As the oil minister then, Buhari served as the first Chairman of the Corporation. His observation therefore is more significant than may be casually appreciated as it reflects the extent of degeneration in the establishment and business practice in the nation’s oil industry in which the Corporation dictates the pace. Besides the query reconciles with his earlier position that the NNPC qualifies to be probed by his administration. 
Seen in the context of the strange happenings at the Corporation over time, the President’s comment was to say the least an understatement. The nation’s public space is replete with reports of scandalous situations in the corporation which have earned for it the toga of Nigeria’s primary cesspool of sleaze and fraud.  Several administrations have had cause to question the operational modalities of the Corporation. However the streak of malfeasance in the Corporation seemed to hit the rooftop during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan, when in spite of overwhelming evidence, the government demonstrated reluctance to take effective action to arrest the situation. Several instances of questionable developments were identified only for the government to play the ostrich and even pat the culprits on the back as if for a job well done.
For instance in 2011 the accounting firm of KPMG was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Finance to audit the NNPC and the result proved grossly damaging. The audit exercise graphically identified glaring instances of sharp practices, violations of regulations, illegal deductions and failure to account for government revenue.
In 2013 the current Emir of Kano Alhaji Sanusi Sanusi as then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) wrote to the President Goodluck Jonathan over the failure of the NNPC to report its transactions in line with the law. The avalanche of events from that development eventually led to his removal from office. Meanwhile even as his figures were in dispute, the non-remittance of government funds as reported by him was nevertheless established.
Before its extinction, the Senate of the Seventh National Assembly formally established that the NNPC was operating an illegal account with J P Morgan Bank into which it paid diverted revenue from crude oil sales. This was as the same Senate established that the Corporation was unable to establish how much oil Nigeria produced nor sold at any point in time, and how much the country was due to earn and is even earning.
In response to the Senate query the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala defended the Corporation claiming that the funds reported as diverted were intended to ease its commercial transactions. This unconstitutional stand seems to have been the mantra of the Corporation in its celebration of sleaze and fraud.
Against the backdrop of the fore going the position of the President on probing the Corporation could not have been more auspicious. The NNPC is responsible for generating about 76% of the revenue of the Federal Government. This dispensation makes it the nation’s primary cash cow. The complement of shenanigans in the place dictates a thorough shake up with the objective of restoring sanity. However hardly will any dispensation address the problems of the corporation and the nation’s oil industry beyond a fast tracking of the passage of the long awaited Petroleum Industry Bill. However the passage of the PIB cannot atone for the grave damage done to the country by the culprits in the NNPC, all of whom the probe shall identify and bring to book.