Nigerian fuel subsidy lands 7 firms in trouble

Only a small portion of those allegedly involved in the corruption were targeted and activists criticised the move as inadequate, while pushing for additional prosecutions.
Anti-corruption authorities announced the prosecutions following a parliamentary probe that found Africa’s top oil producer lost US$6,8 billion through the subsidy programme between 2009-2011.
A spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which will conduct the prosecutions, told AFP the cases are to begin in two Lagos courts today.
“This investigation is massive and extensive,” EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement, adding that the suspects “are among the over 140 individuals and organisations involved.”
Other individuals could face charges later on in the ongoing probe.
“Every effort will be made to bring all those who defrauded the country in the guise of subsidy for imported fuel to book,” the statement said.
In order to keep prices low at the pump, the government pays subsidies to fuel importers.
Much of Nigeria’s crude is refined overseas, then shipped back into the country.
Many Nigerians, the majority of whom live on less than US$2 per day, see low petrol prices as their                     only benefit from the nation’s oil wealth.
Citing corruption among other factors, president Goodluck Jonathan tried to scrap the programme on January 1, a move that caused a strike that shut down the country for a week and only ended when Jonathan partially reinstated the subsidy.
An explosive parliamentary inquiry into the subsidy followed, which described the programme as riddled with poor accounting, overpayments, wilful disregard for regulations and incompetent management.
But those findings have been partially undermined by allegations that the probe leader solicited a US$3 million bribe from an industry baron in order to remove his company’s name from the final report.
Amid the ongoing bribery scandal, Nigeria’s Attorney General Mohammed Adoke has vowed that the EFCC will prosecute any individual or company found culpable, and has insisted “there would be no sacred cows.”
The EFCC statement named both the individuals and companies to be charged tomorrow, as well as the amount each is accused of stealing.
Jo Okei-Odumakin of the Save Nigeria Group pressure organisation said “we need more action and less talk from the EFCC.”
“We sincerely hope that the arraignment of the suspects will not be merely cosmetic and a media show,” she said. — AFP.