SERAP tasks Buhari on probe of illegal pipelines

CNNP, group back El-Rufai, Emir over calls for NNPC unbundling

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to promptly set up a panel of enquiry to thoroughly, impartially and transparently investigate operations of illegal pipelines from 2001 till date and widely publish names behind the economic sabotage.

In the correspondence dated October 15, 2022 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the group told the President to also ensure their prosecution by appropriate anti-corruption agencies.

SERAP advised the Nigerian leader to equally authorise investigation into the destruction of an illegal oil vessel by security agencies with a view to identifying and bringing the owners to justice.

The petition followed recent discovery of two unlawful pipelines being used to siphon the country’s crude from Forcados Terminal to the 48-inch Trans Forcados Export Trunk line.

The organisation said poor and socio-economically vulnerable Nigerians have continued to pay the price for the illicit business apparently undertaken by both state and non-state actors.

It reminded Buhari that his government has a legal obligation to ensure that the nation’s oil wealth is used solely for the benefit of Nigerians.

IN a related development, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has said recent comments by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 14th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, on unbundling the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had vindicated it.

In a statement issued by the Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the group said the calls by the prominent Nigerians “ have again brought to the front burner issues bordering on the alleged endemic corruption and manipulation of figures by the management and board of the company.”

ALSO, Nigerian Forum for Good Governance (NFGG) has backed the calls for NNPC scrapping, citing alleged abysmal performance over the years.

According to the group, notable among challenges faced by the organisation are stealing of crude oil and seeming inability to make and remit profits to government coffers until very recently.

It argued that the national oil company had become more of burden than an asset for economic growth and development.
In a statement issued by the Coordinator and Secretary in Kaduna, Comrades Mukhtar Ahmed Funtua and Reuben Joseph Kajang, NFGG said selling off NNPC remains best option to cut government’s dependence on oil and encourage development of other sectors of the economy.

The group in the statement titled: “NNPC is a burden that must be scrapped and sold entirely,” vowed to mobilise Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) across Nigeria to join the conversation to “Kill NNPC.”

NFGG argued that the company had outstayed its relevance, adding: “We are fully prepared to support Nigerians, who have raised their voices in either to unbundle, sell or privatise NNPC.”