By Ochereome Nnanna
The recent disclosure by the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative, NEITI, of massive corruption in the oil sector under the government of Muhammadu Buhari has gone down the drain without causing the required stir. Neither the Federal Government nor the people whose money was allegedly looted has moved a nerve.
Nigeria has become a desensitised society. It is now akin to a sick person who no longer feels pain in his body. When you get to that level, you are almost dead. Just imagine! NEITI, the Nigerian chapter of a worldwide initiative to monitor corruption and promote transparency and accountability in the oil sector, recently addressed the media and made damning allegations.
NEITI was
established by an Act of the National Assembly in 2007. Therefore, it is a
semi-independent organ of the Federal Government, much like the National Bureau
of Statistics, NBS, but operating with global models of oil industry
monitoring. This means that even before coming public with its findings, NEITI
must have made its report known to President Bola Tinubu. Also, the Senator
Godswill Akpabio-led National Assembly has not responded to this earth-shaking
news.
Now, the enraged Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has decided to kick the Tinubu
government awake by giving it a seven-day ultimatum starting on Monday,
September 25, 2023, to take action on these findings or face legal
action. The importance of this ultimatum is that the Tinubu government will be
forced to send its lawyers to defend it in court and explain why it failed to
do its job of probing the alleged looting, recovering taxpayers’ funds, and
punishing the culprits.
NEITI had revealed that the
total sum of $15 billion was not remitted to the Federation Account by key oil
industry operators like the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and the
Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd. NEITI also disclosed that the N200
billion committed to the revival of the refineries in 2020, which was supposed
to be completed in 2021, vanished into thin air while the refineries remain
comatose, two years after the deadline.
An interesting aspect of this sad saga is that “Mr. Truth”, Buhari, was the self-appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources for eight years. The pillaging of the oil industry, including massive oil theft, took place under his watch. More interesting is the fact that his successor and partner in power mongering, Tinubu, has not only taken over as president, he has also installed himself as Petroleum Minister.
Tinubu’s unperturbed attitude toward NEITI’s trumpet-blowing speaks volumes.
Nigerians have every reason to be worried and alert.
This Emi l’okan (it is my
turn) syndrome is not just an idle political sound bite, it is an unfolding
ideology. The configuration of his government is a replica of the Buhari
regime’s structure in terms of brazen ethnic, regional, and personal capture of
the commanding heights of the Federal Government. It is a structure of
corruption and brigandage after years of intricate plotting and spending to attain
the presidency.
The way the Tinubu government is
structured and its opening moves do not inspire any renewed hope in me. I
expect only a slightly improved version of Buharism. But if Tinubu
responds patriotically and effectively and does justice to this crime against
the nation, the old saying not to judge a book by its cover or not to use the
morning to judge the day will be happily remembered.
*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues
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