LAGOS, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Many critics have accused President Muhammadu Buhari of inactivity since his inauguration on May 29. However, on Friday he made what might be described as a major policy decision when he ordered the immediate dissolution of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The decision was conveyed in a letter dated June 26 and signed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi.
In the letter, Buhari thanked members of the dissolved board for their service to the nation.
The NNPC is the state-run oil company, which oversees Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Its board is statutorily headed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources and also operates as a joint venture partner representing the government in deals with oil multinationals.
The dissolution of the board did not come unexpected; given the character and disposition of the President Buhari to corruption and the need to sanitise the corporation, which is seen by many Nigerians as rotten.
Speculations are that investigations are already ongoing.
The NNPC has in recent years been accused of large-scale corruption, the latest being the alleged disappearance of $20 billion oil money. Indeed, the NNPC Towers in Abuja has been euphemistically described as the “Towers of Corruption”.
However, in 2014 large-scale allegations of corruption against the corporation forced the Nigerian government to order an audit of the finances of NNPC. The most infamous of the allegations was the one, which alleged that about $20 billion was missing from the coffers of the corporation.
A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now Emir of Kano, made the allegation. The audit carried out by Pricewaterhouse (PwC) concluded that the corporation had an outstanding of $1.48 billion which it failed to remit to the Federation Account.
However, the NNPC was yet to make the payment several months after the release of the audit report.
The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan did not release the full forensic audit report of NNPC after it was submitted.
But Jonathan surprisingly ordered the release of the report a day after then president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, vowed to launch an investigation into the claim made by the former governor of the CBN.
Now that the board of NNPC has been dissolved, many Nigerians are expecting the Buhari administration to launch a full-scale investigation into the operations and finances of what many people call “Towers of Corruption” in Abuja.
Though many Nigerians wish Buhari will find the courage to launch investigations into the finance of the corporation, and at the same time ask if such investigations will unearth the alleged missing billions of dollars; one thing is sure, while it is not yet in the public domain, there are reports of discreet investigations, by the Buhari’s administration, already taking place in the corporation
Checks carried out by Saturday Independent showed that most recent ministers of Petroleum Resources and top officials of the corporation are in the panic mode. It was also gathered that they are making moves to cover their actions and some are planning to relocate abroad.
Credit: Daily Independent (Nigeria)
