FG, subsidy ‘thieves’ gear up for another fight

There seems to be an impending showdown between the federal government on the one hand, and marketers of petroleum products that have been benefiting from the oil subsidy regime, as indications have emerged that the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is set to take a second look at the deals.

Feelers suggest that the Federal Government may soon commence fresh investigations into the case of marketers of petroleum products that abused the petrol subsidy scheme and subsequently revoke their licences.

But some marketers had got wind of the development and are forming an alliance to fight back, by integrating their public relations units in the bid to manage the situation by exploiting the media.

Commenting on the development, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Lagos Zone, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, said it was important for the Federal Government to clear the controversies surrounding the probe on petrol subsidy handled by the immediate past National Assembly.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki had said Nigeria was still spending $32bn on non-existing oil subsidy operators.

Korodo said, “The administration of the Peoples Democratic Party in the past 16 years was a disaster. We are appealing to Buhari to probe the subsidy thieves so that we can have some sort of sanity in the industry.”

Also speaking on the move by marketers to form an alliance to fight back, Korodo said for such marketers who had chosen to further expose their misdeeds, the risk of losing their licences remained very high.

A marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, blamed the media for the escalation of the “subsidy issue.”

The marketer, who did not rule out the possibility of a further probe on the subsidy saga by the new administration, declined commenting on the formation of alliance by marketers to fight the process.

According to the marketer, the subsidy problem, which hit the downstream sector, took marketers by surprise.

In July 2012, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had said it would be putting the 140 suspected subsidy thieves on trial, based on the investigation conducted by its operatives.

Controversies have continued to trail the investigation process till date, while the outcome of the investigations remains sketchy.

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