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NEC, NNPC AND PROBES

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By Iyke Durumba

Trending in the last couple of days is the news that the newly-inaugurated National Economic Council has raised questions about the disappearance of $2.1bn from the Excess Crude Account and the illegal withholding of about N3.8tr due the Federation by NNPC. It was said the NEC mandated Govs Oshiomhole, El-Rufai, Dankambo and Emmanuel Udom to investigate the shortfalls.

First, I don't think there's any living Nigerian (apart from possible culprits) who will object to a probe and possible recovery of missing funds. We can only have 24/7 electricity, good roads, jobs etc if the govt has money to invest. If it's all been stolen, no deuce, we'll keep suffering.

May I just make a few observations:

1) It's in very bad taste and an indication of a dubious intention to have an Oshiomhole on that probe panel. This is a man who in several public pronouncements has already made up his mind as to the conclusions. He's already badly prejudiced and will only work towards the answer. His presence on that 4-man panel already bitterly pollutes the outcomes.

2) The function of the National Economic Council is PURELY advisory. Please see Part 1 of the Third Schedule established by
S. 153 of the 1999 Constitution.
So, pray, where did they get this investigative power Oshiomhole is so loud about? Since there's an obvious need for verification of facts that may lead to criminal liability, why use NEC? Why use politicians who have an axe to grind? Why not the security agencies?

3) Where is the FAAC in all this? The FAAC which comprises state commissioners of finance etc is the point at which all monies (including Federation Account, Excess Crude Account etc) are shared among the federating units of Nigeria. If any monies from any of those accounts was shared at all, they'd know about it.

4) As they probe, I hope they'll take cognizance of and enlighten Nigerians on some strange but extant provisions of the NNPC Act like:

Chapter 320 Part I, 7(4) of NNPC Act 1977

"The Corporation shall maintain a fund which shall consist of -
(a) such moneys as may from time to time be provided by the FG for the purposes of this Act by way of grants or loans or otherwise howsoever; and

(b) such moneys as may be received by the Corporation in the course of its operations or in relation to the exercise by the Corporation of any of its functions under this Act and from such fund there shall be defrayed all expenses incurred by the Corporation"

That last little bit "..and from such fund there shall be defrayed all expenses incurred by the Corporation", shows how much of a Gordian Knot it may be to track expenditure in that godless Corporation. It also exposes the inherent perversion in the minds of the drafters of that Decree.

4) Is this present missing N3.8tr somehow the same as Sanusi's missing $20bn? What's the relation between the two sums seeing as they're both unremitted sums from the same NNPC? What role will the PWC report play in this NEC probe?

5) Obviously, that NNPC Act which several govts has used since 1977 desperately needs to be extensively overhauled for transparency as part of Buhari's agenda of reform.

6) However, in order to determine where this rain began to beat us in NNPC and as a point of reflection, guess who was Head of State in 1977 when that NNPC Decree was promulgated? And guess who was Minister of Petroleum?

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