Stopping the massive fuel subsidy looting
In my column of January 9 this year, I argued that one of my greatest fears about the future of Nigeria is our collective loss of the capacity for anger. I was applauding the fit of anger with which Nigerians universally received the unilateral and unholy increase of fuel prices at the beginning of the […]
In my column of January 9 this year, I argued that one of my greatest fears about the future of Nigeria is our collective loss of the capacity for anger. I was applauding the fit of anger with which Nigerians universally received the unilateral and unholy increase of fuel prices at the beginning of the year. It was the Cameroonian author, Celestin Monga, who reminded us in his book, The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa, that the capacity of civil society and citizens in Africa to advance the democratization agenda of their countries is a function of their ability to express outrage at the destruction of their societies and its assets by selfish ruling classes.
The nouns that define how we feel are important indications of our capacity to act. Anger, rage, fury, ire, wrath, resentment and indignation are vital elements in creating human agency and carrying out a real transformation agenda. Fury denotes our marked displeasure at a particular situation and demonstrates we have not given up and substituted passive sadness for anger. The problem however is that every week, Nigerians are inundated with news stories about massive corruption and bad governance. In this context, it becomes very difficult to sustain the anger. The Nigerian ruling class knows about this and rely enormously on a strategy of dragging issues until anger is dissipated. Following the January protest and the capitulation of the labour movement, life for the ruling class returned to “normal” and the massive looting of our natural resources in the name of fuel subsidy contin- ued. It was the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy that placed the issue of mega looting by the Jonathan Administration back on the table. They demonstrated with facts and figures that there was monumental fraud in the subsidy regime at a level never seen in the history of Nigeria. The regime and its oil marketers conspire and defraud Nigeria and Nigerian trillions of naira all in the name of subsidy payment.
In its National Symposium held last Monday, N-Katalyst, a non- partisan network of individuals with deep commitment to the anti- corruption war and progressive change argued passionately for per- sistence and determination in pursuit of an end to impunity. Nigeria cannot afford to allow the massive looting of our Nation’s resources to continue with impunity. The report shows that there has been deliberate lack of proper documentation and the glaring absence of data, accounts and reporting, in direct violation of the laws, rules and regulations governing activities in the oil sector. The obvious objective is to protect the looters from prosecution. We must recover these stolen funds for the use of our citizens.
Under the Jonathan Administration, we have moved from a situation in which only five companies (including NNPC) were involved in importing fuel in 2006 to ten in 2007,nineteen in 2008 to 140 in 2011. The committee discovered that much of the amount claimed to have been paid as subsidy was actually not for petrol. The committee reported that “contrary to the earlier official figure of subsidy payment of N1.3 Trillion, the Accountant General of the Federation put forward a figure of N1.6 Trillion, the CBN N1.7 Trillion, while the committee established subsidy payment of N2, 587.087 Trillion as at 31st December, 2011, amounting to more than 900 percent over the appropriated sum of N245 Billion.” One of the most important findings was that the “NNPC was found not to be accountable to any- body or authority”.
The Committee also showed that “some of the marketers were involved in claiming subsidy on products not supplied.” Between 12th and 13th January, 2009 within 24 hours, the Accountant General made payments of equal instalments of N999 million for a record 128 times totalling N127.872 billion. The Committee estimated that the probable daily consumption of Petrol from the record of marketers and NNPC comes to an average of 31.5 million litres. The committee proposed the continuation of subsidy for Petrol and Kerosene and suggested a budget of N806.766 billion for the 2012 fiscal year. The Committee believes that the 445,000 bpd allocation to NNPC is sufficient to provide the nation with its needs in Petrol and kerosene with proper management and efficiency.
We must act as citizens and not subjects. The country belongs to us all and we can no longer leave the political space and bureaucracy to thieves. The spectacular failure of recent high profile criminal prosecutions relating to corruption dramatizes the collapse of the system of public prosecution in Nigeria. Public prosecution rests on a tri- pod. The first is the detection and investigation of crime; the second is the prosecution of offenders and the third is conviction and punishment. We must act in recovering our capacity to convict and punish the guilty. The key issue here is addressing the issue of the Attorney General of the Federation. He is the only minister named as such in the Constitution and has the vocation of being an independent and impartial officer of the state and not the president’s poodle. His job is to defend the republic and not the transitory incumbent of the presidential mansion. Consistent with this, the duty of the prosecutor is to advance the cause of justice and to promote its due and proper administration. He must oversight the work of the police in the investigation of crimes and in the enforcement of law and upon that work product, he has tremendous amount of discretion as to what charges will be brought against an accused person or whether to even dismiss charges based on lack of evidence. There is more than anecdotal evidence that at both the federal and state levels, Attorneys General conspire to undermine the criminal justice system and the rule of law. Mr Michael Aondoakaa is merely an obvious and dramatic manifestation of this deeply entrenched culture.
The onus of investigating corruption in Nigeria lies on the state (the prosecutor) which may be the police, EFCC, ICPC the Attorney General. For this reason, any anti-corruption strategy should include elements intended to bring to light the presence of corruption. These include elements intended to encourage those who witness or are aware of corruption incidents to report them and incentives to com- plain about sub-standard public services, which may be due to corruption, supported by more general education about corruption, the harm it causes, and basic standards that should be expected in the administration of public affairs.
Major corruption cases often
involve people in high authority. To make corruption a high-risk crime you need a professional and dedicated investigative force. The range of investigative tactics and strategies are easily undermined if the investigators are incompetent or corrupt themselves and police investigation itself therefore has to be transparent and accountable even if that is only after the necessarily covert elements have been undertaken. Corruption investigation can be politically sensitive and embarrassing to the government. The investigation can only be effective if it is truly independent and free from undue interference. This depends very much on whether there is top political will to fight corruption in the country, and whether the head of the anti-corruption agency has the moral courage to stand against any interference.
Nigerians must continue to demand that All persons and institutions indicted in the fuel subsidy scam be punished, these include but not limited to the Ministers of Petroleum Resources and Finance, the Board Members and Management of NNPC, the Board Members and Executive Secretary of PPPRA, the Director of DPR and all public officials indicted by the House of Representatives Committee Report.
The immediate appointment of a new Attorney General of the Federation with the will and skills to prosecute corrupt persons is necessary. The immediate recovery of all illegal payments made to the Petroleum marketing firms, the NNPC, PPPRA and others which, according to the House Committee, amounts to N1.2 trillion or $6bn.
The passage within a maximum of three months of an unadulterated and undiluted Petroleum Industry Bill. This must contain a viable process of renegotiating of a new road- map for the full deregulation of the oil and gas sector to forestall this kind of abuse in the future.