Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday in Abuja, asked the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to disclose the source of
funding of kerosene subsidy.
Tambuwal, who was
represented by Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, made the demand at an
investigative hearing on the supply, subsidy and distribution of
kerosene in the country.
The hearing was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream).
He said that
since there was no budgetary provision for subsidy on kerosene,
Nigerians would want to know the source of funding of the subsidy.
According to
him, in spite of the N1 trillion spent in the past four years to
subsidise kerosene, the product had continued to elude Nigerians.
“It is important
to note that the country has spent at least N1 trillion over the past
four years to subsidise kerosene, yet the product is neither available
nor is it sold at the official NNPC pump price,” he said.
“When kerosene is
available at all, it is sold at such exorbitant rates that Nigerians
have to pay huge sums to get the product.’’
Tambuwal said that neither the NNPC nor its agencies had been able to disclose the consumption volume of kerosene per annum.
“Transparency and
accountability are things that we should, by now, take for granted in
21st Century democratic Nigeria,” he said. ‘This mystery surrounding
kerosene subsidy warrants a full scale investigation to unravel the
truth. Nigerians need to know to what extent kerosene subsidy is
actually serving their interest.”
The speaker said that the aim of the hearing was to boost the confidence of Nigerians in the economy.
“Let me reiterate that this is a constitutional duty and not a witch hunting exercise,” he said.
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