- As Reps seek appropriate pricing for petrol
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PACAC) Prof. Itse Sagay, on Thursday in Abuja accused the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of being reckless with funds meant for development.
Sagay alleged that the commission recently bought 70 cars, including eight Super Lexus Jeeps at N78 million each and 10 Landcruisers each costing N63 million.
He said the vehicles were acquired with funds meant for the provision of water, housing, hospital, schools and infrastructure development in the Niger Delta region.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sagay spoke at the opening of a two-day national dialogue on corruption organised by PACAC in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President.
“The cars were bought with money from funds meant for infrastructure, water, housing, hospital, schools, without conscience and without a thought for the wretched people of the Niger Delta.
“These huge sums were plundered from their allocations and yet the Managing Director was ironically complaining as reported by the Nation newspaper of Feb. 6, 2017 that the NDDC lacks funds to executive projects.
“The managing director also said that NDDC was in debt up to the tune of N1.2 trillion. What an irony.
“The recklessness with which public officers spend public funds is insensitive to the point of insanity. The level of insensitivity has become pathological.’’
Accordingly, Sagay took a swipe at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) saying nothing had changed since the current administration came on board in May 2015.
Sagay cited an instance with the Tin Can Island in Lagos, where he said customs officials now charge fees to physically examine goods following the breakdown of the scanner.
Describing it as brazen corruption, he said there were many other instances which PACAC brought to the attention of the Comptroller General during a recent visit to him.
Sagay decried public apathy to issues of corruption in the country, noting that the people’s attitude to corruption had become hardened, and that there was no longer any fear of consequence.
“Now, we need to ask ourselves what the problem really is. We are definitely overwhelmed by the epidemic of kleptomania. But do we also have a collective psychiatric problem?
“Why should a person loot what he cannot spend in 10 lifetimes, thereby exposing the rest of the population to misery, hunger, poverty and wretchedness.’’
Sagay also reflected on judicial corruption, saying some judges still grant adjournments running into months in contravention of provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
He accused lawyers of contributing to the problem by using different delay tactics thereby causing the nation great embarrassment.
He said he had suggested to PACAC on the need to recruit a group of young lawyers to monitor court sittings and note issues of adjournments.
According to him, the reports sent by the monitors will be compiled and send to the National Judicial Council for appropriate action.
Sagay faulted the recent public demonstrations against the present administration, saying they were sponsored by those who lost elections and those whose appointments were not renewed.
In the meantime, members of the House of Representatives are looking at the pricing of petrol to ensure that marketers get real value for their investment.
The Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of Pump Price of Petrol, House of Representatives, Hon. Raphael Igbokwe, made this known during their tour of facilities of NIPCO Plc in Apapa, Lagos.
The lawmakers praised NIPCO for making the product available at regulated prices across the country.
Igbokwe said users of the product should get good value for their money.
In a statement by NIPCO’s spokesman, Mr. Taofeek Lawal, Igbokwe said NIPCO was a case study of an indigenous firm in the hydrocarbon industry that started from a humble beginning to become a major player.
He said: “We have come to see the magic wand that has made you to have this splendid leap in few years of your operations.
“Yours is an excellent show case of good partnership of indigenous petroleum marketers and a core investor that is fast changing the face of hydrocarbon products storage and marketing in the country.”
According to Igbokwe, stakeholders support for organisations, such as NIPCO is a veritable way of attracting more Foreign Direct investment (FDI) into the industry, adding that with the rising profile of the company, there is hope for more FDI inflow into the economy.
Commending the acquisition of majority shares in Mobil Oil Nigeria (MON), Igbokwe said it was good for an indigenous firm to acquire controlling equity in downstream section of an international oil company (IOC).
He noted with satisfaction the state-of-the-art facilities in the terminal and the services being rendered in the storage and loading of petroleum products, adding that also worthy of mention is the seamless inflow and outflow of trucks at the depot.
The firm’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Venkataraman Venkatapathy said the visit of the lawmakers would afford them the opportunity to see the firm’s facilities and do an on-the-spot assessment of their efforts in the industry.
He told the lawmakers that NIPCO had been in the forefront of harnessing the great potential of the nation, especially in natural gas aside from storage and distribution of white products.
According to him, operations at the terminal are highly automated with little human intervention to guarantee high level of efficiency and accuracy in the storage and dispense of products.
Its Group Executive Director Corporate Services, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, said if given the required support to access product, Nigerians would get good value for their money.
He noted that the company hardly does 30 per cent of its installed capacity, adding that with an improved product access, NIPCO could change fuel supply equation across the country.
Aminu said NIPCO employed Nigerians as part of growing the local content as enshrined in the Nigerian Content Act.
NAN with additional report from Upshot
