The Senate joint Committee probing the management of fuel subsidy scheme yesterday invited Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, her Petroleum Resources counterpart, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to appear before it to explain the ‘’unprecedented rise’’ in the fund expended on fuel subsidy this year. Others included Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr.Austen Oniwon, Comptroller General of Customs, Mr. Abdullahi Dikko, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Sa’ad Ibrahim and Managing Director, Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).
They are to appear before the committee on Thursday.
Committee Chairman on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) Senator Magnus Abe disclosed the names of those invited at a news conference in Abuja .
Part of the invitation letter reads: “The Senate at its sitting on Wednesday, 12the September, 2011 considered a motion entitled: ‘Investigation into the current fuel subsidy management” and mandated its joint committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Appropriation, and Finance to investigate the operation of the fuel subsidy scheme.”
“The joint committee in carrying out its mandate resolved to request your initial reaction in a written brief and to invite you to meet the committee.”
It said that the brief should explain the entire procedure for administering the subsidy, sources of fund and “why there has been an unprecedented rise in the quantum of subsidy in the latter part of this year than we had at the beginning” of the year.
Abe noted that “there are some interests in the assignment given to the joint committee.”
He said the committee met and agreed on a module that would enable it to conduct an open and fair investigation into the operation of fuel subsidy in the country.
The joint committee, he added, would first meet with heads of government agencies involved in operation of fuel subsidy after which memoranda would be invited from interested members of the public.
He said:“The meeting with heads of government agencies will be open, We want to assure Nigerians that the investigation will be transparent and open and whatever we get will be passed over to the Senate to draw its conclusion.
“The first meeting with heads of government agencies is important in order for the joint committee to be fully briefed for us to understand issues involved.
“It is not a witch hunt, there is no preconceived mindset, we are going into it with open mind, we will be transparent in the way we go about the assignment.”
Senator Bukola Saraki, who sponsored the motion that led to the probe had claimed that unless urgent steps were taken, the Federal Government may spend N1.3 trillion on fuel subsidy at the end of the year.
Saraki, who represents Kwara Central, noted that the amount was far above N240 billion provided in the 2011 budget for fuel subsidy.
Senate President David Mark referred to the existence of a “cabal and mafia” in the nation’s oil industry.
Nigerians expect the joint committee to unmask the cabal and members of the mafia operating in the oil industry.
Observers however felt that the investigation may have failed even before it started following admission by the joint committee that it needed briefing before the actual probe.
Mrs Okonjo Iweala, Mrs Allison-Madueke and their Labour counterpart Emeka Wogu will today meet with Labour and civil society groups in Abuja on the controversial policy.
The roundtable discussion is at the instance of Initiative for Peace and Industrial Harmony, a group which claims to be “an open platform of life-long students union and labour veterans who have fought and are still fighting against social injustice.”
The meeting is targeted at resolving all differences and manage disagreements with respect to challenges of petroleum subsidy withdrawal devoid of any strike or disruption to economic and political life of the nation thereby preventing national crisis.
Others expected at the meeting include Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), ActionAid International, National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
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