Human Rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana has launched a civil society push that wants the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe the allegedly falsified figures on the actual amount that went into fuel subsidy in the 2011 budget.
Following excerpt of the petition addressed to the chairman of the EFCC on Thursday:
DEMAND FOR INVESTIGATION INTO THE GRAND FRAUD IN THE IMPORTATION OF PMS IN 2011 BY PPPRA.
In the Appropriation Act 2011 the sum of N240 billion was voted for fuel subsidy. But in utter violation of the Appropriation Act 2011 the sum of N1.4 trillion was paid by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency for fuel subsidy from January – December 2011.
I have however discovered that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which collected 50% of the fund and other importers of petroleum products engaged in unprecedented fraud which was committed in the following manner:
i. The fuel subsidy of N240 billion was illegally increased to N1.4 trillion without a supplementary appropriation bill passed by the National Assembly.
ii. Out of the said sum of N1.4 trillion only 62.9% was paid as subsidy on PMS in 2011.
iii. Whereas the sums of N421 billion and N673 billion were paid as fuel subsidy for 2009 and 2010 respectively the NNPC was paid over N400 billion as arrears of subsidy claims for 2009 and 2010.
iv. Demurrage payments made by NNPC translated to an average of $6.6 million per month.
v. Variations between NNPC claims and verifications by PPPRA led to over deductions of several billions of Naira.
vi. Professional fees of billions of Naira were paid to two private Auditors for covering up the perpetrators in the fuel importation scam.
vii. Exchange rates used by NNPC were lower than the average exchange rates approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria .
viii. Contracts for fuel importation were awarded to companies / suppliers that were not in the approved prequalification list.
ix. As a result of late settlement of invoices from suppliers NNPC paid interest rates running into millions of dollars.
x. Failure of PPPRA to regulate the supply and distribution of petroleum products.
xi. Failure of PPPRA to prevent collusion and restrictive trade practices harmful to the petroleum sector.
In the light of the foregoing, we demand for the investigation and prosecution of the officials of the PPPRA and NNPC as well as their collaborators who defrauded the nation to the tune of several billions of Naira.