STAKEHOLDERS WANT FG TO PROSECUTE OIL SUBSIDY THIEVES

Stakeholders in the nation’s oil and gas sector urged President Goodluck Jonathan to demonstrate the political will to prosecute companies and individuals indicted by the Lawan Farouk and Nuhu Ribadu Committees on oil subsidy fraud and corruption.
The stakeholders made this urge at a two-day workshop on monitoring and reporting of oil subsidy/corruption cases in Nigeria, saying there should be no hiding place for the guilty persons.
A communiqué signed by Mr. Leo Atakpu, Deputy Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ and three others, also tasked the National Assembly to revisit the issue of oil subsidy fraud/corruption and demand accountability from the executive and judicial arms of government as part of its oversight functions. They also demanded that the judiciary should expeditiously adjudicate criminal matters relating to oil subsidy fraud/corruption and bring all erring persons to justice, while anti-corruption agencies should make public information on all cases currently going on relating to oil subsidy fraud and corruption.
They advocated the need for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Special Fraud Units of the Nigerian Police Force to thoroughly investigate and prosecute suspects.
According to the communiqué, the federal government should create a Special Oil and Gas Sector Financial Crimes Unit as recommended by the Nuhu Ribadu-led Committee as the anti-corruption agencies were not sufficiently equipped to deal with these specialised crimes.
The stakeholders further tasked civil society and media to track missing billions of dollars from savings on oil subsidy as a result of increase in pump price to N97 per litre since January 2012 accruing to the Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P).