Still on NNPC’s Losses
ministers, special advisers to the President, heads of government agencies, parastatals and other top government functionaries, to make public their running cost.
I stated in an earlier article that while tackling federal lawmakers over their running cost, Nigerians should also interrogate the Executive and Judicial arms of governments at all levels regarding running cost. All holders of elective and appointive offices still access huge amount of money as running cost in an era of change. Many will clearly be shocked if they know what ministers, heads of departments and agencies draw as running cost monthly. Maikanti Baru, who heads the NNPC, allegedly collects perplexing figure monthly as running outlays. The lady at the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman and my friend at NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, are also said to be drawing frightening figures monthly as running cost. In the Presidency, aides of Mr. President pocket millions of Naira monthly as running expenses. These public servants should make public their running cost in the spirit of “Change.” There should be transparency in an era of change.
A country where millions of people now wake up without breakfast and go to bed without dinner can’t afford these follies. A country where millions of civil servants have not been paid for months can’t afford a treat like this. A country with a comatose economy, where millions of graduates roam the streets without jobs must not continue with this luxury of huge running cost.
I have just gone back again to read the string of losses recorded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the last three years. I am still shuddering. NNPC recorded a total loss of N546.63 billion during this period, according to statements on its website. The corporation’s unaudited financial operations showed losses of N267.14 billion, N197.49 billion and N82 billion in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively, in contrast to its budgets that showed operating surpluses of N466.94 billion, N334.04 billion and N601.15 billion for the three years under review. Its ineffective refineries and fuel-retailing arm are the biggest money guzzlers. While other state oil corporations in places like Norway, Brazil and Saudi Arabia are making money for their governments, ours keeps devouring money; wasting money in an era of depression.
Money guzzling is the name of NNPC’s game. Not long ago, this corporation told a bewildered nation that petrol consumption had jumped to 60 million litres daily, with N1.7 trillion paid as subsidy in 2017. Many are questioning these new figures. NNPC’s petrol import and expenditure claims are cloaked. I doubt if they are verified by an independent body. A responsible government will privatise the loss-making refineries and liberalise the oil downstream to stem this ugly trend. Unfortunately, this has refused to happen in Nigeria amid so much poverty. The big men who use NNPC as a cash cow have refused to allow this happen. They control any government that emerges in mother Nigeria. What a country!