7th November, 2013
The disappearance of N500 billion from the Subsidy re-Investment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, funds has confirmed to Nigerians that the SURE-P has become another sure pipe for draining the proceeds from the January 2012 fuel price increase into private pockets. Therefore, the Senate revelation may not have come as a surprise to many Nigerians who protested in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities across the country in January 2012 when President Goodluck Jonathan unilaterally removed the so-called subsidy on petrol. Nigerians knew that the money would be mismanaged or brazenly stolen and that was why they took to the streets in protest for days and some protesters were even shot dead by the police.
The startling revelations by the Senate has vindicated those who were skeptical about the use to which the proceeds accruing from the increase in the pump price of petrol would be put. President Jonathan has not kept the promises he made when he increased fuel price in January 2012. One of the promises was that the money would be used to repair deplorable federal roads and infrastructure across the nation. Now Nigerians have to come to terms with the fact that the SURE-P has become another hollow pipedream.
The anger expressed by the Senate ad-hoc committee looking into the activities of the SURE-P is justified, considering the fact that out of the N834.33 billion that accrued to SURE-P between January 2012 and September 2013, only N300 billion was released to the SURE-P committee headed by Christopher Kolade.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which has often been associated with gargantuan corruption, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, cannot account for the missing N500 billion. Though NNPC has denied any link with the SURE-P, there seems to be more to the fraud than meets the eye. In the wake of scandalous heist, there is no excuse the Federal Government could give in future to justify any increase in the pump prices of petroleum products. There is no justification for the barefaced manner proceeds from such incessant fuel price increases had often been stolen in the past.
During the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he increased the pump prices of petroleum products several times with nothing to show for such increases. At a point, he dismantled the toll gates nationwide and increased the prices of petroleum products, saying the proceeds would be used to fix the dilapidated roads across the country. But he left the death traps worse in 2007 than he met them in 1999 when he became president.
We insist that all those involved in the disappearance of the N500 billion must be held to account for it. The Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, must explain to Nigerians who are paying through the nose to get petrol what happened to the money. This issue must not be swept under the carpet the usual way. The abysmal level of corruption in the country is unacceptable and President Jonathan must be seen to be confronting this monster before it completely tramples the nation.