Ex-ANAN chief tasks govt on illegal bunkering

FORMER President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Federal Government to be firm in dealing with cases of illegal bunkering.Nzekwe told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos, at the weekend, that government should deal decisively with oil theft if it 'wants the economy to move forward.'He was speaking in reaction to the revelations by some government officials last week that between 180,000 and 200,000 barrels of crude oil were stolen daily.Such act was said to be costing the nation a loss of more than N1.2 trillion yearly.According to Nzekwe, the proceeds fromillegal bunkering that go into individual pockets are lamentable.'If few citizens can steal oil worth about N1.2 trillion annually, almost a nation's budget, you can imagine theimpact onthe nation'seconomy,'he said.He advised that government should prosecute such fraudulent people to serve as a deterrent to others.Nzekwe reasoned that since the major earnings were through crude oil sales, government should plug all loopholes.The former ANAN chief appealed to government to look into the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure that the organisation conformed with due process and the law establishing it.Also, he said that government should not use the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for recurrent expenditures, except for capital expenditures.'Capital expenditures would create employment, create enabling environment for the real sector including agriculture to thrive. Then see'ECA should not be used for recurrent expenditures, as it would affect the economy by creating inflation and stagnating the economy,' the former ANAN president said.He suggested that if we were able to feed ourselves through agriculture, we would have gone a long way and not importing rice from Thailand.Nzekwe pleaded with the government to start implementing the budget by releasing funds on time to the ministries, departments and agencies to save the economy from undue pressure.'Government is every country is the biggest spender and most people who do jobs for government want to collect their money,' the accountant said.He said that when there are payment delays, it would directly heat up the economy.
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