$49.8bn oil money not missing —Senate •Rejects bid to remove fuel subsidy

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SENATORS, on Thursday, ratified the report of its committee on Finance, which probed allegations of missing $49.8 billion oil revenue made by former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi.

Lawmakers at the sitting ratified the report, which indicated that the allegation by the former CBN governor was unfounded, indicating that the said money was not missing from government’s coffers.
They also unanimously rejected the proposal that the Federal Government should remove petroleum subsidy, due to the alleged widespread misapplication of the funds.
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Mismanagement: NNPC Can’t Account For ₦500bn Subsidy Fund – Senate

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The Senate on Tuesday lamented that officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to honour its invitation to give account of how they managed the  N32.00 removed as subsidy on each of the litre of petrol sold in the country between January 2012 and September 2013

Members of the  Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme raised the alarm while addressing journalists, two hours after officials of the NNPC and the Central Bank of Nigeria failed to honour an appointment with them.

Court Grants N250Million Bail To Alleged Cop Killer Of Subsidy Protester

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A Lagos High Court has granted bail to a Divisional Police Officer, Segun Fabunmi, who was dismissed over the shooting of Adedamola Daramola, during the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests in Lagos.

The trial judge admitted bail to Mr. Fabunmi in the sum of N250 million with two sureties who each must have landed property in Lagos worth N100 million.  Although the law says that bail should not be granted in capital offences, such as murder, bail is still at the discretion of the Judge, so the presiding Judge, Justice Olabisi Akinlade, granted the dismissed police officer bail based on his health and his performance when he was in the police force.

Delivering her judgement, Justice Akinlade stated that the defendant was granted bail on the grounds that he has renal failure and would need special medical attention which the prison service cannot afford.  She acknowledged that the medical report issued by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital on his state of health was sufficient proof.

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₦98,114,927.39 ($620,000) Fuel Subsidy Bribe: Judge Fails To Rule On Farouk Lawan’s Trial

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Ruling on an application to quash the charges against former chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee on fuel subsidy; Farouk Lawan and the committee’s secretary, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, was stalled on Thursday as the trial judge, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, could not deliver the anticipated ruling owing to bereavement.

An official of the Abuja High confirmed the development to journalist in Abuja and consequently, May 10, was fixed as new date for ruling on the pending application by Lawan and Emenalo.

The duo seeks to have the court quash the 7-count charge preferred against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Federal Government has no plan to remove oil subsidy, says Okupe

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The Federal Government stated yesterday that contrary to the speculation in the media that the government was planning to withdraw the remaining subsidy on petrol, such plan is not on its table for now. They said for now o! :-)

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, released the statement saying:

"We wish to state categorically that, the removal of oil subsidy is not on the table of the Transformation Agenda of the President. The statement made by President Goodluck Jonathan at the recent Economic Summit held in Lagos was a frank, intellectual and well articulated contribution by the President to the discussion on the Nigerian economy at the said summit, and it was from a honest and sincere leadership perspective."

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Government Will Continue To Dialogue With You Until You See Reasons Why Subsidy Must Go – Jonathan

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President Goodluck Jonathan has insisted that there is no going back on total subsidy removal. However, he said the government would continue to dialogue with Nigerians, to make them reason with the government on why the proposed removal is necessary.

The president made this known during the Nigeria Summit 2013, organised by The Economist, in Lagos, on Tuesday. He said it did not make economic sense to continue to waste resources meant for greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the rich in the society, stressing that his government would continue to enlighten Nigerians on the need to remove the subsidy.

In the words of the president: “We cannot continue to waste resources meant for a greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the affluent middle class, who are the main beneficiaries.”

Recall that the announcement of partial removal of the subsidy on January 1, 2012 led to a week-long strike and civil unrest.

Nigeria’s Inflation Slows as Effect of Subsidy Cut Falls Away

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Nigeria’s inflation rate fell to 9 percent in January as the effect of a year-earlier reduction in fuel subsidies dropped out of the calculation.

Inflation in Africa’s largest oil producer slowed from 12 percent in December, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said today in an e-mailed report. The median estimate of seven economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 9.5 percent. Prices rose 0.6 percent in the month.

The January 2012 increase in gasoline prices after President Goodluck Jonathan cut subsidies helped keep inflation above the central bank’s target of less than 10 percent throughout last year. Central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said last month that the rate may drop close to the target, largely because of “base effects.”

Fuel Subsidy Scam: Courts Temporarily Freezes Assets Belonging To Son Of Former PDP Chairman

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A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Thursday, temporarily froze assets belonging to two oil marketers, Seun Ogunbambo and Mamman Ali, the son of the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Ali.

The Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo-headed court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an order for an interim forfeiture of assets belonging to the two oil marketers, who are part of many others indicted in the fuel subsidy scam, Ali and Ogunbambo.

Subsidy Fraud: Court grants Abubakar Peters N85m bail

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Lagos – A Lagos High Court on Wednesday granted bail in the sum of N85 million to the Managing Director of Nadabo Energy Ltd., Abubakar Peters, charged with N1.5 billion oil subsidy fraud. The court held that the evidence before it showed that Peters reported himself to the court when he learnt that he had a case before it. “Bail is hereby granted to the defendant in the sum of N85 million and two sureties. The sureties must be resident in Lagos and possess three years’ tax clearance.

FG Skips Planned Refinery Projects - Jonathan Must Tackle Fuel Subsidy Corruption–Labour

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Eleven months after promising to build three new refineries for the country, the Federal Government may have dumped the plan. Saturday PUNCH investigations showed that the FG may have dropped the idea because of the unresolved issue of deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
This development came to the fore as organised labour expressed surprise at President Goodluck Jonathan’s N161bn supplementary budget on fuel subsidy for 2012.

Nigerian Senate Passes N161.6 Billion Supplementary budget for oil subsidy

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The Senate on Thursday, passed the supplementary appropriation bill of N161.6 billion. The amount will serve as payment for fuel subsidy to oil marketers for 2012. President Goodluck Jonathan had on Tuesday sent a request to the National Assembly to approve an additional N161.6 billion to ensure steady supply of petroleum products during the festive season. Senate President, Sen. David Mark, however, decried the high level of corruption being perpetrated under the fuel subsidy scheme, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Gov. Fashola Blames Presidency over Delay in Fuel Subsidy Investigation

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Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola has expressed displeasure over the investigations into the fuel subsidy scandal blaming the president for the delay. According to him, the investigation should have come earlier. Fashola who made the remarks at the two-day Kuramo Conference, 2012 themed: ‘The Global Common Wealth’ held in Lagos, said that the executive failed to do its job on the fuel subsidy scandal. He stressed that the legislature should not have been the first to look at  the report but rather, the executive has the responsibility to conduct investigation on the scandal. According to him, anyone found to be implicated during the investigation should have been dismissed immediately.

N888bn enough for 2012 fuel subsidy – Okonjo-Iweala

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Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
| credits: File copy

The Federal Government believes it has no compelling reason to prepare a supplementary appropriation for petroleum subsidy payments because the fund earmarked for that purpose in the 2012 budget should be enough, MARTIN AYANKOLA writes.

The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the N888bn allocated for subsidy payments in the 2012 budget should

Subsidy committee members arraigned over gratification

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Four members of the Presidential Committee on Fuel Subsidy Verification, who allegedly received gratification from the Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd., on Wednesday appeared in court on  three counts.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the committee members were arraigned  before  a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, along with three executives of the oil company, who allegedly offered them N1.5 million as gratification.

The committee members are: Buhari Ganiyu (37), Alalade Abioye (30), Oni Oluwanishola (34) and Chukwujekwu Akabueze, whose age was not stated. Alalade and Akabueze are women.

Those from the Integrated oil and gas are: the Managing Director, Anthony Ihenacho, 57; Assistant General Manager, Humphrey Nwosu, 44; and Financial Controller, Akinwusi Julius, 50.

The three of them are male.

All the defendants are standing trial for alleged conspiracy, offering and receiving of gratification.

They, however, pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, SP Asuquo Effiong, said that the company executives, had on August 30 at the company’s office at Marine Road, Apapa, given the money to the committee as gratification.

He said that the committee members were being prosecuted for receiving the money in order to refrain from exercising their duties according to the rules.

Effiong said that the offences contravened Sections 409, 64, and 63 (1)(a)(b) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.The magistrate, Mr Martins Owumi, earlier turned down their bail application on personal recognition, and later granted each of them bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

He adjourned the case till November 10 for further hearing.

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Source : punchng[dot]com