BY BEN AGANDE
ABUJA—“We are fighting against entrenched interests whose infectious greed has decimated our people. Therefore be mindful that they will fight back, and they do fight dirty”.

With these words, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal charged the members of the House to prepare for a fight as they commenced deliberations on the report of the Hon. Faruk Lawan led Ad-Hoc committee on the utilization of Fuel Subsidy.

Contrary to the widely held fears that the House of Representatives may jettison the report of the committee, the recommendations were, yesterday, overwhelmingly adopted without any major alteration.

Setting the tone for the deliberations of the report, the Speaker vowed that the House will not be deterred by the opposition to its recommendations, even as he lambasted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its reluctance to act on the recommendations of the House.

As a demonstration of the seriousness of yesterday’s business, the session recorded almost hundred per cent attendance as most members including those who hardly attend daily sittings were in attendance.

Top of the recommendation by the House of Representatives yesterday was that the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Ahmadu Ali should be prosecuted by relevant Anti Corruption Agencies for his role in the management of Petroleum Subsidy regime while he served as chairman of the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency.

Subsidy Probe: Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha returning to his office after presiding over Investigation on Subsidy regime’s report at National Assembly, Abuja yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

A suggestion for similar treatment for the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Deziani Alison Maduekwe over her role in the supervision of the Petroleum Ministry as chairman of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was, however, rejected by the House.

Yesterday’s consideration of the report of the Faruk Lawan-led Ad-Hoc Committee on the utilization of the Subsidy regime was trailed by protest by some youths at the entrance to the National Assembly who alleged that the investigation by the House of Representatives was targeted at some persons, notably the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

But the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who had to vacate the seat to allow the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha to preside in a committee of the House, however, frowned at the unwillingness of the anti-graft agencies to act on the allegations against those indicted by the committee, claiming that it was waiting for the consolidation of the reports before taking action.

Speaker Tambuwal’s speech

In his speech before the commencement of the consideration of the report, the speaker said the house would remain committed to the ideals of saving Nigerians from those determined to pilfer their commonwealth.

Plans to frustrate oil sector probe

According to him: “The probe of the oil Sector has raised so much dust from certain segments of the polity such that it became clear that the intention was to frustrate it. For those who regard the oil sector as a secret society or sacred cow, I wish to state without equivocation that it is not. All public agencies in the oil sector are the creation of Acts of the National Assembly and this Honourable House has no powers to legislate for the creation of secret societies. Similarly all private sector corporate bodies operating in the sector are the creation of the Corporate Affairs Commission and that Commission also is not vested with any powers to incorporate secret societies. Let it therefore be known that in our drive to sanitize the polity, there are no sacred cows and we do not intend to discover any.

“However, that is only one part of the job. We now have the more crucial duty of considering the report and recommendations of the committee. Usually in a matter such as this, one is accustomed to hearing differing opinions presented passionately. Or passions presented as opinions.

“But we must never forget who we are and where we are, because Nigerians are watching us very closely and history will judge what we do here today. I therefore urge each and everyone of you to look at this report dispassionately.

“Be fair in your comments and set aside all primordial sentiments so that we can do justice to this important document.

“Let me reiterate the fact that we are discharging a Constitutional assignment here and it is therefore incumbent upon us to do our duty without fear or favour. Let me also remind you that we are fighting against entrenched interests whose infectious greed has decimated our people. Therefore, be mindful that they will fight back, and they do fight dirty.

“I have heard all kinds of insinuations, including the one about anti-graft agencies waiting for a ‘harmonised version’ of this report before taking any action. Let me quickly say here that this is at best an excuse that can not stand after all the same agencies accept and investigate petitions from individuals, how much more resolutions of this House. There will be no such document so they should just go ahead and do their job and where they find any person or body culpable, they should proceed in accordance with the law.

“Our only interest here is to mitigate the suffering of Nigerians by showing how the subsidy regime has been hijacked for the benefit of a few. At the end of our deliberations we hope that the executive arm will act upon the resolutions of this House and bring more transparency to bear on the system.

“Together we can do all things constitutionally required of us but not without sacrificing our personal comforts, personal aspiration and even personal opportunities that do not benefit the public good. For as many are prepared and determined to make these personal sacrifice and to stand on the side of the ordinary Nigerians whose mandate we hold, I say let’s march on dear colleagues” the speaker said.

Recommendations adopted by the House yesterday.

The committee recommended that the NNPC should refund to the Federation account, the sum of ‘N310,414,963,613 paid to it illegally as subsidy for Kerosene contrary to the presidential directive of July 29, 2009 withdrawing subsidy on the product.

The House also upheld the recommendation of the committee that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation should be unbundled to make its operations more efficient and transparent, adding that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill should be expedited. The Auditor-General of the Federation was also directed to appoint an Auditor to audit the accounts of the NNPC and submit same to the Public Accounts committee of the House within three months.

But the number of companies that were recommended to refund Foreign Exchange they had allegedly collected from the federal government in the name of subsidy but did not supply any products was reduced from 15 to 13 as the Chairman of the Ad-Committee, Hon. Faruk Lawan explained that the committee discovered that POKAT NIG. LTD and SYNOPSIS ENTERPRISES LTD did not participate in the subsidy programme.

On the recommendation that some companies that failed to appear before the committee be made to refund the money they collected, the House however ruled that in order to give the companies fair hearing, they should be re-invited to appear before the committee again to give their own account of the story. The recommendation that they refund the money they had collected was therefore stood down pending when they would appear before the committee. The committee had earlier recommended that the 17 affected companies be made to refund the sum of N41, 936,140,005.31.

Other recommendations adopted by the House:

*That the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA 2009-February, 2011 should be investigated and punished for the official recklessness he exhibited in the implementation of the board decision to reverse the qualification for participation in the scheme.

*That the management and board of the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation should be completely overhauled and all those involved in the following infractions be further investigated and prosecuted by the relevant anti-corruption agencies.

(a). Payment of N285.098 Billion in excess of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency

(b). Subsidy deductions from the funds meant for the federation account in contravention of section 162 of the Nigerian constitution and

(c). illegal granting of price differential (discounts) of crude oil price per barrel to Nigerian National Security Corporation to the tune of N108,648 Billion from 2009-2011.

*That the practice whereby PPPRA as a regulator in the petroleum downstream sector being supervised by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources whose minister is the chairman of the Board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (a major Importer/participant in the Petroleum Support Fund scheme) negates the principles of checks and balances and international best practices.

*That the committee is is firm in its view that if any petroleum product is deserving of subsidy, house hold Kerosene should enjoy a pride of place. It therefore recommends the immediate reinstatement of subsidy on kerosene not later than the second quarter, 2012 at pump price of N50 per litre.

*That the Petroleum Support Funds guidelines should be revised to make Tax compliance a mandatory pre-qualification requirement for all participants under the scheme.

*That the Federal Inland Revenue service should follow up on the companies listed earlier to pay their taxes with due penalties in line with the provisions of the companies income tax Act within three months.

*That marketers without storage facilities and retail outlets should be excluded from participating in the Petroleum Support Funds Scheme as this will end the Bazaar that constituted a serious drain on the nation’s economy and created room for abuse.

Out of the 62 recommendations by the Faruk Lawan-led committee, the House yesterday considered and approved 35 recommendations while  amending 7 before adopting them. Further consideration of the recommendations would continue today before the house would formally adopt the report of the committee.

We were never invited — Techno Oil

In a related development, Techno Oil Ltd has denied allegations that it refused to appear before the committee saying it was never invited.

In a statement signed by its Corporate Affairs Manager, Peterson Babalola, the company said it was ready to appear before the committee or any other agency of government if it was invited.

He said: “Techno oil wishes to state that at no time was it invited by the committee to appear before the probe panel. Contrary to information contained in the media, the company was never invited to appear before the committee before the hearings.

”Techno oil’s name was neither listed in the invitation published in National dailies by the committee on January 13, 2012 nor did it receive any letter of invitation to appear before the committee. The media report alleging that Techno oil refused to appear because it has something to hide is incorrect.

”Techno oil is ready to appear before the committee or any other agency of government should it be invited,” he concluded.