Victor Ezeja
Former President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Peter Esele, has called on President Bola Tinubu to order a comprehensive audit of fuel subsidy payments over the years.
Mr Esele said the issue of scams around the fuel subsidy scheme is public knowledge, and urged the president to thoroughly probe every activity surrounding it to unravel what has been stolen from the country and prosecute individuals found to have been involved in it.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelRecall that former Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, had in an interview with Channels Television on Monday alleged that a subcommittee on Subsidy removal he chaired had discovered fraudulent activities in petrol subsidy payments between 2008 and 2009 and made recommendations which were, unfortunately, not implemented.
Yuguda alleged that the Nigeria National Petrol Company (NNPC) was involved in the scam.
READ ALSO: We Uncovered Subsidy Claims On Pipelines That Never existed – Isa Yuguda
Speaking on that, Mr Esele, who appeared on Channels Television Sunrise Daily show on Tuesday, said there is a lack of implementation of laws guiding the system and no political will to prosecute culprits.
“Whoever violates the law is meant to face the consequences of his actions,” he stressed.
Esele, who has also served as president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) from April 2006 to 2008 lamented that the foundation of the scam is that there is no data on the daily consumption of pe
trol in the country that can be used to estimate what is injected into subsidy scheme.
The ex-TUC president, who was also a member of the Presidential Task Force on Subsidy Removal said recommendations were made but the government did not implement them. He added that the government does not have a policy trust around the oil and gas sector hence the challenges in managing it.
He said the government should have invested in gas infrastructure as an alternative source and made buses available for cheaper transportation before going ahead to remove subsidies on petrol.
READ ALSO: Garba Shehu Says Buhari Helped Tinubu Win Election By Not Removing Fuel Subsidy
He also stated that organised Labour is not against the subsidy removal but maintains that necessary conditions to cushion the effect of the removal should be put in place, such as making the refineries functional to produce petrol locally.
He also advised that the report of the subcommittee submitted then should be revisited for possible implementation of the recommendations therein.
“The report should be revisited and even more audits carried out to ensure that whoever is behind it are all brought to book,” Esele stated.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
