EMERGING revelations of spurious financial dealings and sharp practices on the much-talked about fuel subsidy have confirmed the worst fears of Nigerians that the huge amount the Federal Government claims it expended on fuel subsidy, particularly in 2011, was bogus and actually not paid for fuel consumed by Nigerians. It would appear that a large chunk of the huge amount was simply stolen by unscrupulous individuals through dubious deals.Those involved in this fraud deliberately exploited the loopholes in the country's corrupt system to rip off the nation through over-invoicing, excess importation, smuggling, round tripping, payment for fuel not supplied, etc. In effect, government has been subsidising corruption, and not Nigerians.Twenty-four million litres of subsidised petrol is said to be smuggled or diverted daily to other countries, going by information from the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the Subsidy Regime during its sitting in Abuja. This amounts to 8.8 billion litres of petrol annually and this is in excess of the country's annual consumption projection of about 12.7 billion litres. When this is multiplied by the official subsidy figure of N76.38 per litre, it amounts to a whopping N672.14 billion lost by government to corruption yearly.The country is said to consume about 35 million litres of petrol daily. But marketers receive subsidy based on 58.9 million litres, giving an excess of 24 million litres daily. In a year, that amounts to 8.7 billion litres of excess petrol imported with subsidy paid but not consumed by Nigerians. More questions also arise as to where the fuel is stored considering that the country has a total storage capacity of 1.4 billion litres.As if this is not shocking enough, the NNPC is said to pay itself at source in contravention of existing financial regulations. According to the audit report by KPMG, SS Afemikhe and Co, the NNPC ripped off the nation to the tune of N11.8 billion as subsidy on lost petroleum products not consumed by anybody. The report further revealed that the NNPC collected subsidy on locally produced petrol against the regulations.Faced with this blatant short-changing of Nigerians, the agencies and departments handling the oil industry cannot give proper account of what is happening. The NNPC has no records of what is produced. Nigerians have always wanted to know the actual quantity of petrol consumed in the country given the huge importation that warrants outrageous subsidy payments. Unfortunately, nobody, neither the PPPRA nor the NNPC, could give proper accounts of the transactions. Instead, Nigerians are presented with conflicting figures for the same transactions.While the PPPRA at the on-going investigation claimed that it paid N630 billion subsidy in 2008, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) put the figure at N350 billion. Similarly, the PPPRA put the subsidy claims at N463.5 billion for 2009; N673 billion for 2010 and N1.34 trillion in 2011! No official has so far bothered to explain how the figure jumped drastically last year over and above what was paid in the preceding years.Sadly enough, fuel fraud has been happening right under the nose of government for years without any effort made to stop it. Nobody has been indicted, punished or made to pay for the rip off. The Jonathan Administration has an onerous task to confront this hydra-headed monster crippling the nation's economy.It is unfortunate that these fraudulent practices would have remained guarded secrets had it not been for the unprecedented six-day strike and national mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidy by the Jonathan Administration. Even now, no one is sure that the theft has abated, or that government is still not paying for what Nigerians did not consume. It is the duty of the government to monitor what is imported and ensure that it reaches the consumers. Government's array of security outfits should be properly reorganised to combat the crippling exploitation and fraud.There is need for a meticulous monitoring of all the transactions concerning fuel, be they local refining or importation. There is no reason why Nigerians cannot know precisely how much petroleum products they consume. Ultimately, government must ensure that the country has enough refineries to meet local requirement, that the rules of doing the oil business are clear and tightly observed, and that there is zero tolerance for deviant conducts. If these are the only results of the recent general strike and mass protests, then, they would have served the nation well.
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