*Demands release of Ribadu Committee report on oil sector
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
15 January 2015, Abuja – The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, APCPCO, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to explain to Nigerians how N5 trillion oil and gas revenue went down the drain.
In a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, and made available to journalists in in Abuja, the group demanded that reports of various groups set up to investigate corruption and mismanagement in the oil and gas industry be made public.
It further challenged the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to explain why over N5 trillion in oil and gas revenue vanished under his supervision, through fraud and embezzlement.
“This government must answer the questions posed by the different committees and task forces that probed the oil and gas sector between 2011 and 2012.
“By this, we mean the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Task Force Report, the Minister of Trade and Investment’s report on stolen crude; the House of Representatives fuel subsidy report coupled with investigations into the ecological fund, SIM card registration and frequency band spectrum sale,” the APC campaign said.
It recalled that a national newspaper had on its November 25, 2012, edition alerted Nigerians on how over N5 trillion oil money had been stolen under Jonathan’s tenure, an allegation that was never denied by the government.
The APC campaign while bemoaning the shock the nation’s economy is going through as a result of the free fall of oil prices, stated that waste and graft associated with the management of our oil and gas revenue has further compounded Nigeria’s economic predicament.
It noted that if the above scenario was frightening, what followed in the last two years has been worse and most flagrant.
According to the APC campaign, “industrial theft of oil surged from 250,000 to 400,000 barrels per day and remains unabated. The issue of corruption was also repackaged and lowered to the status of petty stealing. Worse still, innocent whistle-blowers were hounded out of office.”
*Press statement