Fuel subsidy report suspicious, one-sided –Group

Written by Okey Muogbo, AbujaWednesday, 18 April 2012

A group of petroleum marketers have kicked against the report of the House of Representatives Committee on Subsidy Probe, saying that the report shielded some corrupt marketers who also benefitted fraudulently from the subsidy.

The group, Petroleum Marketers Movement (PMM), in Abuja, on Tuesday, said rather than address the crisis of the subsidy fraud, the committee had taken on the task of undermining the administration of the President Goodluck Jonathan.

The statement, signed its president, Mr Frank Diobi, said the alleged report, as published in major national dailies, was one-sided.

PMM also wondered why the report should be limited to the regime of President Jonathan, insisting that the probe should be extended to cover 1999 to date, since subsidy had been on for a long time.

Another grudge of the group was that there were other companies that appeared before the committee with apparent worse cases, but were freed by the report.

“From the publications, we have every reason to suspect the report, because it is silent on many issues. One, many oil firms appeared before the committee, what informed the conclusion that led to the singling out of 69 oil firms out of over 100 involved in fuel importation?

‘The committee should release the details of how it arrived at its conclusion. It should also come up with a position on the status of other oil firms and clarify whether they have been given a clean bill of health or not. This will clear public odium which some of these firms were subjected to by the conduct of the public hearing of the ad hoc committee,” the statement read.

According to the group, it was obvious that the House ad hoc committee had a pre-determined agenda and, therefore, advised Nigerians to be careful in accepting its report.

SOURCE: The Tribune, 18 April 2012. http://tribune.com.ng