After the monumental scandal that passed for the probe of perceived irregularities in the power sector a few years ago, the last thing the House of Representatives or indeed Nigerians needed was a repeat of the Tony Elemelu-led charade which raised the hopes of many Nigerians and subsequently dashed them with a vengeance in the better-forgotten power sector probe by the House.
Now, with a clear hint of déjà-vu, the much heralded probe of the oil subsidy regime widely believed to have been used as a conduit for the perpetration of monumental fraud risks going the same way unless urgent measures are taken to address the many objections raised in the conduct of the Farouk Lawan-led Committee and the several objections raised to the report it tabled before the House last week.
At the last count no fewer than four parties indicted by the report submitted by the Committee have raised objections to the veracity of its findings in a manner that cast serious doubts on the integrity of the probe itself which, if truth must be told, was mired by controversies almost from day one.
In fairness to the Committee however, no one expected its work to be a cake-walk for obvious reasons. It is a well-known fact that corruption had eaten deep into the operations of the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry for several decades. The Nigerian oil sector is after all, among the least transparent in the entire world, while the NNPC, like most other moribund federal agencies has struggled to shed its image as the fulcrum of sleaze over the past several decades.
The maximum proof of this of course is in the painful knowledge that the NNPC is now a dwarf compared to similar agencies in Brazil (PETROBAS) and Malaysia (PETRONAS) established at about the same time with the responsibility of developing and adding value to the oil industries in their host nations. PETRONAS, in particular, now ranks among Fortune Global 500 largest Corporations in the world.
It was ranked the 95th largest company in the world in 2008 and 80th largest in 2009, and was also classified as the 13th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia. By comparison the NNPC, no thanks to endemic corruption and chronic inefficiency, had degenerated into a net importer of petroleum products over the same period.
To make matters worse for the Committee, it was obvious that it was up against formidable forces in the sector who had become fabulously wealthy feeding fat on both the inefficiency and corruption in the industry on which the fuel subsidy scam was itself predicated. And corruption will always fight back we all know, especially in Nigeria where it can count on powerful accomplices in the corridors of power who had become complicit in either their negligence, or chronic and treacherous abuse of executive privilege.
That was why we all expected much from the outcome of the Committee’s sittings. Destiny placed an enormous burden on the shoulders of members of the Committee especially after the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protests, which dispelled all previous doubts as to how close we are to a full-blown revolution to address the nation’s accelerated drift towards the abyss caused by endemic corruption and abysmal leadership.
Nigerians wake up to be inundated by reports of fresh cases of multi-billion Naira fraud perpetrated by those put in charge of public funds. Recently, it became clear that even pension funds were not spared from the wide-spread malfeasance. They have also become frustrated by the obvious negligence or inability of the system to arrest or deal with high graft. The James Ibori fiasco has forever cast a slur on the integrity of our own judicial system, as well as the commitment of the authorities to confront corruption head-on. But that is a story for another day.
For now, it is safe to assume that much was expected from the Farouk Lawan Committee, whether its report has met those expectations is now an issue for serious debate. The Committee should have known that because of the disgraceful outcome of the power probes, it was itself on trial, given the enormous expectations from Nigerians constrained to bear the adverse effects of the removal of oil subsidies.
The situation demanded a clean job from the Committee, in order to safeguard the integrity of not just the report itself, but ultimately the image of the House itself, given the crucial role of the legislative arm in any democracy.
Truth be told, the report could certainly have done without the serious objections raised by the NNPC, Mobil Oil Nigeria plc, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, as well as the accounting firm Olusola Adekanola & Co; all of pointed out several loopholes in the report of the Committee, which, if not sufficiently disproved, risk impinging on its integrity.
In the case of Mobil Oil, for instance, I was appalled by their claim that they were never invited by the Committee to give evidence in whatever form! It claimed in an advertorial in several national dailies that: “Mobil Oil Nigeria’s name was not listed in the invitation list by the Committee as published in Thisday of Friday, January 13, 2012 and did not receive any letter of invitation to appear before the Committee.”
The company went further to reiterate its readiness to appear before the Committee at anytime if given the opportunity do so. If their claim is proved, then it certainly goes against the principle of fair hearing in such instances.
Similarly, given the rebuttals published by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, which specified its roles in the subsidy payments administration, as well as the counter-claims also published by the NNPC on who received or paid what, it has become apparent that a lot of explanations are still required with regards to the conclusions of the report. And before we know it, the CBN may also have issues with the claims from the other parties.
The least I expected from the Committee was for its probe and subsequent report to have unravelled or comprehensively dealt with all such ambiguities especially with regards to roles, responsibilities or the delineation of functions in a manner that would have made the paid adverts I referred to unnecessary and a complete waste of time.
The Committee’s report or findings need not itself become controversial if Nigerians are to derive the maximum benefit from the exercise. Ultimately what we risk when the supposedly damning report is subjected to such preliminary objections, is that the entire process could also become mired by endless litigations especially if those indicted are able to prove that due process was breached in the way the Committee either sat, or arrived at its conclusions.
To reclaim the public trust and to assure Nigerians that the subsidy probes will not end up like that of the power sector, as the House begins deliberations on the report today, it must ensure that all genuine grievances and short-comings in the sittings of the Farouk Lawan Committee are addressed.
The nation, especially long-suffering Nigerians cannot afford such distractions over a matter that so gravely impacts on the quality of their daily lives. If they fail to do so, they need no reminder that history is capable of drawing its own appropriate conclusions.
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