A
member of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Subsidy
Management, Dr. Ali Ahmad, has alleged that companies owned by past
and serving governors, ministers and top politicians were involved in
the fuel subsidy scam.
The Farouk
Lawan House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Management of
Fuel Subsidy had in its report alleged monumental fraud in fuel subsidy
payments.
Speaking to journalists in
Ilorin on Sunday, Ahmad said the alleged plot to impeach the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, over the
report would not succeed.
According
to him, Tambuwal incurred the wrath of some powerful forces for not
influencing the committee to trivalise the fuel subsidy report and for
insisting on openness and transparency in the debate of the report.
He
urged the government to implement the report when adopted by the House,
adding that Nigerians should insist on good governance, accountability
and the implementation of the report once passed by the House.
He said, “Companies belonging to past and serving governors, ministers and top politicians are involved in the scam.
“This is an opportunity for government to earn peoples’ trust and implement the report.”
He stated that from their investigation, if the crude oil export was well handled, the landing cost of fuel would reduce.
He
said the alarm by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam
Lamido Sanusi, that the N656.3bn budgetary allocation to fuel subsidy
in 2012 would run out before the end of 2012 was unnecessary.
Ahmad
stressed that with proper management of crude oil proceeds, there
would be enough money such that even the allocation might need not be
spent anymore.
He added that the
government’s reasons that fluctuation of international oil price and
exchange dollars equally contributed to high rise in subsidy cost were
untenable and pedestrian.
He said,
“With proper marketing and management of exported crude oil, government
does not even need the budget for subsidy provision this year.
“Lamido Sanusi said even the N888bn will not be enough before the end 2012. They have started. Nigerians should wake up and shine their eyes. Now is April and Lamido is raising the alarm. So we might see another trillion or more before the end of 2012.
“We do not even have to spend the budgeted subsidy amount with good transaction and management of the oil crude.
“It is the duty of all us to defend the masses.”
Ahmad,
who is also Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Justice,
said what Nigerians needed was good governance, provision of
infrastructure, security of lives and properties, functional power,
employment and an enabling business environment rather than debate on
2015.
According to him, the debate is a distraction to good governance.
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