APC Chieftain Writes Petroleum Minister, Demands Full Disclosure On Crude Oil Sales Ms. Alison-Madueke had said subsidy on petrol could no longer be sustained. A leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, has requested the Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to fully disclose the transactions concerning the sales of crude oil, the crude oil swap variant and the certification of subsidy for the importation of kerosene and Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, from January 2012 to date. Mr. Okechukwu said the request followed the minister’s intention to stop petrol and kerosene subsidy without building new refineries or adequately revamping existing refineries. Mr. Okechukwu’s request, contained in a March 14 letter to the minister, was made under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. Ms. Alison-Madueke had stated last Tuesday that the payment of subsidy on petrol could no longer be sustained. She said the negative impact of the continued regulation of the downstream sector was more than the positive impact. “This candid request is not only in the collective interest of Nigerians, but on my concern over mischievous claim by some elements that President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR’s government is somehow involved in the scam to divest huge sum of money from the Federation Account through misappropriation,” Mr. Okechukwu said in his letter to the minister. “Secondly, the suspended Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has cynically chosen to whip up public sympathy and anger against the Federal Government by deliberately misleading unwary Nigerians and the international community into believing the falsehood that he is being punished for exposing corruption. “Thirdly, Mallam Sanusi has joined those who have axe to grind with President Jonathan’s government by spreading false claims and allegations through gullible foreign media correspondents, telling them among other things that his threat to force commercial banks to open up their books to unravel the whereabouts of the alleged $20 billion missing fund led to his suspension.” The APC chieftain stated that in the submission of the Economist Magazine in its edition of March 1, Mr. Jonathan, hemmed in by allegations of corruption at the state oil company, “had yielded to a similarly reckless gamble” and that the result had been a mini-crash in Nigeria’s financial markets and grave setback to the country’s progress towards securing macro-economic stability. Mr. Okechukwu said the clarification on the report that N700 million was spent daily in kerosene subsidy had become germane in view of the hardship Nigerians, especially the end user face in producing same. He stated further, “It may interest you to note also that most Nigerians earnestly want you to come clean as they have lost confidence, when the minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Auditor General of the Federation washed off their hands in the scam like Pontius Pilate. “Nigerians also have lost confidence in the executive and National Assembly’s investigations, forensic or sterile, having been inundated by series of reports of both local and foreign, including the KPMG, Ribadu, NASS, yet the cynicism in the land has gone viral. “Hon. Minister, consequently, your full disclosure in obedience to the rule of law as enshrined in the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, will in no small measure help to redeem the battered image of our beloved President Goodluck Jonathan and put the records straight.” Premium Times
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:59:57 +0000
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