Saturday, October 27, 2012

Ribadu report: Labour urges FG to probe missing $183m



Mallam Nuhu Ribadu
The organised Labour on Thursday called on the Federal Government to institute an urgent probe into the revelations by the Nuhu Ribadu Committee that $183m signature bonuses from seven discretionary oil licences awarded by petroleum ministers between 2008 and 2011 was missing.
The two labour centres in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, on Thursday demanded that the FG must ensure that those behind the latest incident of corruption and theft of public funds be fished out for prosecution without delay.

The NLC and the TUC called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission and related security agencies to wade into the matter to ensure the money was recovered from those involved in the missing funds saga.
The president of the TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, said that while the ministers of petroleum in Nigeria remained the most powerful in the world, regulatory institutions were rather too weak in the country.
He said that the situation had made the ministers of petroleum to do whatever they wanted, including allocation of oil blocs and others.
He urged the National Assembly to whittle down the powers given to the Minister of Petroleum in the Petroleum Industry Bill now awaiting legislative action.
Esele urged the EFCC and related agencies to pick up the issue and ensure that the funds involved were recovered.
He said, “The Ribadu committee is a fall out of the anti-fuel price increase demonstrations in January; the committee is one of the benefits.
“What this has shown is that our regulatory authorities are too weak. The Minister of Petroleum is the most powerful minister in the whole world.”

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