How NNPC, Marketers, Others Ran Economy Aground Through Subsidy Scam Since 2008-Isa Yuguda

John Danjuma Omachonu

Former Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, on Monday opened up on the subsidy scam and said the monster which involves some individuals and Corporate organisations had been a major instrument for running aground the Nigerian Economy over the last 15 years.

Although, the former managing director of the defunct NAL Merchant Bank and Inland bank said the criminal activities had been in existence before 2008, but added that up until the time of its removal, the fuel subsidy has mostly been a scam run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in conjunction with marketers and other stakeholders in the oil sector.

Yuguda who also was former minister of state for Transport and Aviation disclosed this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, monitored by metrobusinessnews, (MBN)According to him, he was privileged to serve as the chairman of a subcommittee between 2008 and 2009 under the economic meltdown period and he chaired the committee on subsidy where everything about the scam from the initiative was discovered.

He said while all the past leaders, under the period could not be absolved from the scam, the needed political will to stop it has been lacking.

“I am sad to let Nigerians know what I saw; we came across situations where subsidy was claimed on pipelines that never existed,” Yuguda maintained.

The former minister further explained that “They (NNPC and Marketers) just claim that they have pumped X amount of either finished products or crude.

“Those that claim to pump the products and those that are in the subsidy scam, they just fill papers, invoices and they claim subsidy on it,” Yuguda explained.

When asked again if it was indeed the NNPC that was making these claims, Yuguda replied in the affirmative.

“Who else is doing it?” he rhetorically asked.

He further stated that the removal of subsidy has long been discussed and is long overdue, however, previous governments did not have the political will to implement its removal.

He was optimistic that President Bola Tinubu can bring an end to the scam, adding that, his business background and governing the cosmopolitan Lagos before may have exposed him to the intricacies that would assist him in tackling the scam.

However, he was quick to add that taking a holistic approach at tackling the menace would mean identifying the culprits and making them to face the wrath of the law.

According to him, although his report may have taken a very long time, there have been subsequent reports after the one he chaired that individuals and Corporate Organisations, using phorensic approach, could identify the culprits.

The former minister also blamed some bank executives who he claimed contributed to the crisis in the economy and particularly banking industry as well as aiding the scam that brought about indiscriminate borrowings that have put the country in a very precarious situations, particularly, in the area of revenue and debt servicing.

According to him, all the bad loans, which led to the creation of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, (AMCON), sitting atop of over N3 trillion bad loans now were given by the chief executives of banks, some of whom, according to him, are moving freely on the streets today.

According to him, it is a scam that AMCON is sitting on trillions worth of toxic assets, which were purchased by government with tax payers’ money, after the frauds were perpetuated in connivance with the banks.

He also said that both the regulator and operators should be blamed for the crisis in the financial industry.

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However, some analysts say the revelation by President Tinubu in France that the financial industry was rotten during the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as the Central Bank of Nigeria governor could be presumptuous and runs against the principle of innocence until pronounced guilty by a competent court.

 “At least the President told us here in Nigeria before he travelled that Emefiele is being investigated and to that extent, we know, he’s still innocent, but his pronouncement could mean, the man has been adjudged guilty even before he’s been charged. Some of us feel, due process as commenced by this administration should be followed to the conclusive end,” an analysts, who preferred anonymity said