TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE January 11, 2013
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has condemned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the $1.5billion foreign loan purportedly sought by the corporation to settle unpaid fuel supply bills being owed some commodity trading houses.
CACOL, in a statement by its Executive Chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran, said the purported foreign loan by the NNPC is another avenue to fritter away the nation’s resources.
The statement reads in part: “This foreign loan is another way to corner our common patrimony into private hands. What older loans are they settling? Does it mean the nation is still owing subsidy payments, whereas huge sums of money was appropriated for the same purpose last year and the masses were made to believe that the appropriated money would be enough to pay the fuel suppliers?
“The NNPC has become a cesspit of corruption. It claimed it is owing some commodity trading houses including Glencore and Mercuria, about $3.5bn in unpaid fuel supply. Who consumed the fuel and when was it consumed?
“It is high time an end came to the shenanigans of the NNPC. They lead the nation by the nose, sell our oil, deduct what they like from the proceeds, remit whatever amount they deem necessary into the national treasury, with no oversight from any quarters.”
Adeniran, however, advocated that the Petroleum Industry Bill should be reworked and passed by the National Assembly, if the nation must be free from the grip of the cabals perpetuating corruption in our oil sector.
He added that the shoddy way in which the NNPC operates is the major contributor to the sleaze that has become endemic in the corporation.