AKIN Soname, a veteran chartered accountant, is the Executive Chairman of Lagos-based Financial Spectrum Limited. To him, the non-existence of accounting system in the nation's public service has created 'the free-for-all manipulations' in the nation's oil industry, to the benefit of the few rich Nigerians, in collaboration with top government officials. He spoke with Business Editor, ADE OGIDAN. Excerpts.The protests over removal of petrol subsidy have come and gone. With palliative measures being pursued by the government, do you think a lasting peace has now really berthed in the country over the recurring fuel price crisis'First of all, the protests over the removal of petrol subsidy and the increase in the pump price from N65 to N97 have not gone. Loud agitations at various rally grounds may have been forcefully quashed but the loud grumblings are still very much audible across the country. The protests may have snowballed into a subterranean magma, waiting for the slightest opportunity to re-explode on a greater magnitude.So, in effect, we only have the peace of the graveyard now, which is far more dangerous for the nation's security and I only hope the government will use the opportunity of the protests to listen to the people and do the right thing, given the fact that governance is all about peoples' welfare.But how about the palliatives being rolled to cushion the effects of the fuel price hike'Which palliatives' I hope you are not talking about the 1,600 buses said to have been purchased for mass transit purposes by the government. That gesture is a huge joke and an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians. What will that number of buses do for 774 local governments in the country' Lagos State alone rolled out over 2,000 buses for its urban mass transit programme and yet the impact was not fully felt in all its local governments.That wasn't the only palliative measure, going by the details in the SURE document.Talking about the palliatives on a general note, it is medicine after death. A presenter on Channels Television once described it rightly as asking somebody to jump down from a skyscraper with the assurance that an ambulance was waiting for him on the ground floor. Why in the first instance should the government deliberately inflict pains on the people and thereafter talk about the so-called palliatives' It was obviously a product of corruption, perpetuated by the people in power. As an accountant, I know the approval level that would be required to effect those contrived subsidy payments. So, the right thing should have been to get back the money from those that fraudulently got it and use it for the projects in the SURE document. Those involved in the shady deals should be severely dealt with. That way, the people would be assured that government was not tackling corruption but pursuing people-oriented issues. It is fundamentally wrong to heap a crisis precipitated by some few Nigerians, in collusion with top government officials on innocent Nigerians. That was the reason for the massive turnout of people at the various protest rallies across the country.Again, the Federal Government, through its own misdeeds, has not been able to earn the trust of the populace. Remember several hardships had earlier been heaped on Nigerians with the promise that the sacrifice on their part would engender implementation of certain projects, which were said to be for the improvement of infrastructure facilities. Such hardship policies included sale of government's assets which threw many Nigerians into great pains. Now, what became of the promises' Nothing.The government therefore needs to search its conscience and draw a line between running a private company for profit making and running a government system for the upliftment of peoples' hopes and aspirations.Are you really against the deregulation policy'No. But the Federal Government is not even pursuing deregulation policy, especially for the downstream sector of the oil industry. What the government is doing is mere price fixing, which is anathema to deregulation. There is a big difference between the two.But the Federal Government's strategy was to facilitate the coming of investors who would put up refineries and thereby engender competition in the industry.That argument alone has betrayed the inner intentions of the top government officials marketing that strategy. Who told them that refineries cannot make profit in Nigeria if the factory gate price of petrol is N47 per litre' That will now make you to actually seek for the face of these so called investors who are clamouring for high pump price of fuel before investing in the country. The position of these government officials is manifestly unpatriotic. Nigerians should be made to know the production cost of refined petroleum products at oil producing countries, especially among OPEC members. I am sure that through a comparative analysis of refining costs in this countries, facilities in Nigeria can produce at N47 a litre of petrol, where the investors are genuine operators.Another reason given by the government was the need to ensure that the fuel prices in the country are not so low, in comparative with tariff in neighbouring countries, in order to discourage smuggling. What's your take on that'That's a very pedestrian thinking and it really shows the quality of people running the affairs of this country. If other oil producing nations follow that line of thinking, it would wipe off the comparative advantage of their being oil producing countries, which I know, they will not do.In the first instance, a country like Venezuela, which sells the cheapest fuel around the world has not found it necessary to increase the pump prices, despite the fact that its neighbouring countries are selling at over 1,000 per cent above the prevailing price in the country.Again, are we saying that several commodity items in our neighbouring countries are not really cheaper than in Nigeria' Should these countries, like Republic of Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroun, also decide to increase the prices of such items in order to discourage their being smuggled to Nigeria'If smuggling is an issue, why not tackle it headlong' What's the problem in increasing the workforce in the Customs and deploy modern technologies to monitor movements across the borders' Are these fuel tankers too small to detect while crossing the borders' This mass deceit should stop and ingenious means evolved in moving the economy forward.So, what's the way forward, in your own opinion'First of all, the public finance management law must be a priority now. This would bring about a National Accounting Commission, with the mandate to enhance the capacity of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to effectively look into the books, through the independent monitoring of the commission. This way, the government would not be spending huge amount on ad hoc auditing of the MDAs.There should be a new regime of transparency in government's financing procedures. Presently, there is no effective accounting system in the country. What we have in place now was scripted in 1958 and it's no longer relevant to the current issues at stake. No attempt has been made so far to revise or review it. So, what we have now is a free-for-all spending spree, bereft of effective auditing, which has landed us in the current malaise.But why have you and your professional colleagues kept quiet over the years on such a lacuna in the accounting system'My company forwarded a proposal to that effect to the Federal Government, during the Obasanjo's administration. The proposal was approved in principle then by President Olusegun Obasanjo and he duly minuted it to the then Finance Minister, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Nothing concrete came out of it thereafter. I know some of my other colleagues must have sent similar proposals. I find it difficult to appreciate or understand how a government could be functioning without a virile accounting system. The only reason could be for the government officials to sustain the looting regime of the public treasury.It is even more intriguing when a software for the accounting scheme has been developed. It is still with the government. Non-implementation of this project has created what I will describe as financial terrorism by the government against the people.How do you mean'Under the present situation, resources of the nation are now cornered by few privileged individuals, who know that the system in place cannot catch up with them. The scenario has brought about deprivations against the people, leading to poor access to education, healthcare, good accommodation and employment, among others. The fatality rate is far more devastating that current Boko Haram terrorism on the country, as the situation assails millions of Nigerians. We need to curb this financial terrorism fast enough to save lives.
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