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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