By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited -NNPC is the critical sector of government as the agency that handles and controls the oil exploration , production and sales.
This company is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Petroleum resources which is headed by President Tinubu as Minister of Petroleum.
Heading this Ministry by President Tinubu is one of the issues that generated so much tension and criticism especially by public affairs commentators.
Recently one of the issues that generate high publicity in Nigeria is the comment made by the former Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi against the NNPC as he challenged the Company to give the account of the dollar inflows from its operations
The former Emir of Kano made the challenge while speaking at the opening of the 2023 Bank Directors Summit with the theme “Emerging Issues Navigating the complex Balance Between Regulation and Compliance ” which was organized by the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria(BDAN).
Sanusi in his remarks also warned against any move to remove independence of CBN and subject it to political manipulations ,saying this could be dangerous to the economy .
Central Bank of Nigeria’s Act is one of the best World wide
The renowned economist said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s act remained one of the best laws in the World ,adding that the solution was not in changing its implementation.
With regard to the current Foreign Exchange liquidity challenge in the country,the 14th Emir of Kano said the question about the earnings of the NNPC would continue to linger .
It would be recalled that this was the question that cost Sanusi his job as CBN governor during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan when he asked the NNPC to account for 20 billion dollars of oil revenue.
“Where are the dollars? ” Sanusi asked the NNPC. He stated that he would continue to demand answers until NNPC is properly reformed or till he die
The former CBN governor said the current fiscal challenges resulted partly from the inability of government agencies to account for their stewardship in a transparent manner to reduce revenue leakages.
Blame on Banks for providing overdrafts to Federal government
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi particularly blamed the bank’s overdrafts to the federal government through Ways and Means for the country’s high inflation and Foreign Exchange woes.
He described the NNPC as the most opaque institution in the world, noting that to achieve Foreign exchange stability. You must follow the money as we asked in 2014.
According to him, so much attention was being focused on the CBN that no one was demanding answers for 11 trillion Naira (13,932,868,400.00 dollars) subsidy payments without accountability.
The Era of regulations without consultation should End
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also urged the CBN to always consult the banking industry in crafting its policies adding that the Era of regulations without consultation should end.
He said the central bank should initiate regular meetings with bank directors, adding that AMCON levy tends to be unsustainable and should be reconsidered.
Tinubu’s reaction on the Forex Exchange liquidity
President Tinubu who was represented at the summit by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, stated that funding of liquidity in the Foreign Exchange market though a short-term solution remained critical for the economy at the moment.
“There is No reason to feel that the indications that were made earlier had changed ,It just takes time”. President Bola Tinubu added
Tinubu said it was only a matter of time before short, medium and long-term funds are mobilized across the spectrum.
“Regulators must partner with industry to promote innovations that drive financial access, and banks have a duty to embed integrity and transparency into our culture and technology systems.” He stressed.
Professor Abiodun Adeniyi is a professor of Communication
and Public Affairs analyst.He said Emir Sanusi is sounding typically as a very critically wounded mind person as someone who is always forthcoming and he always helps us to understand that we are lacking interns of accountability and transparency.
The Professor of communication added that there is much leakages in government revenues as a result of lack of accountability transparency and wastages .Talking about the NNPC he the role played by the company is well known in the mainstay considering that we are mono economy relying on Oil revenues , of course when we have that mainstay falling apartments in the ability to complement, there is probably shortchange in the manner that you can not imaging.
He said the issue of NNPC not audited for fifteen years has been discussed by different commentators at various times but it is good to have people like Sanusi to talk about the matter at a forum where government functionaries and top bankers are in place .
“I want to believe personally that the President will be all ears ,yes valid observation no doubt, we had a situation where subsidy is removed and a reason that subsidy need to be removed for years is that we are a nation that we have deficit in infrastructure ,we probably need three trillion Naira 3,799,873,200.00 dollars) to meet our deficiency in infrastructure,the nation in this kind way should not go out of transparency.
Of Course we are aware of government efforts to rapidly increase government revenues in the mining sector ,in the Agricultural sector ,with this effort of increasing revenue don’t forget about consistent and persistent borrowing. Probably this is continuing ,against this background we are expecting very prudent and very accountable interns of resources that we are managing to generate.
Oil subsidy removal we all accepted it somehow as a faith accomplice and after we expect openness so that there is accountability , improved service delivery ,improved provision of goods and services”. The Professor of Communication said.
He added that if such services are not on the ground we need to have such voices like that of the former Emir of Kano coming at a level of intervention.
The criticisms made are really constructive ,he said the government should take it in good faith and see what it can do to get that agency to be more responsible at a level of openness .
Still no impact of subsidy removal interns of positive economic development.
Baba Yusuf is also a Political affairs analyst and policy strategist .He said the former Emir of Kano just reiterated what almost every Nigerian knows ,what he did is only re-echoing the issue as he is known for speaking the truth to the powers .
The analyst shared Sanusi view with regard to NNPC’s secrecy in terms of its financial dealings.The Policy strategist stated this in an interview with Arise news recently.
He cited an example with ARAMCO of Saudi- Arabia which is under a monarchical system as more open than NNPC which operates under Democratic government .
NNPC dealings under current democracy after shifting from over twenty years of Military dictatorship is more gloomy and darker ,so it’s an issue that Nigerians are very serious about .
“I hope I will see more seriousness from the part of government because these are our resources ,they campaign and took mantle of leadership and promise to run a government that is transparent as transparency is the bedrock of good governance ,unless that is done the NNPC will continue be in a bad shape ,we need to see how our revenue are coming up and it’s shared among the tiers of government” Baba Yusuf said
Baba added that retaining the position of Minister of Petroleum by the President is part of the reasons we are where are today with regard to goings in NNPC today
First of all from the good governance perspective from the accountability transparency angle ,the President by holding that position is making the sector untouchable as the President can not be audited, that is where anti-good governance is an issue.
Also from a strategic perspective ,looking at value chains whether in the public or private sector ,in any entity are three critical things that include value creation,value generation and value protection .
The President is supposed to hold the position of value protection ,being a minister of petroleum means the President is holding the position of value creation,innovation generation and protection which is Anti – tactical and it can not work that way .
And also from the risk management and mitigation perspective the President with all the principles of separation of powers the President is so powerful no one can checkmate him properly even the National Assembly,so by extension the NNPC group management is also untouchable .
“Like His Highness said who is going to audit the President ,we have the auditor general and accountant general and what ever and statistician general nobody can hold the President to account ” Baba Yusuf said. The analyst stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said that he will operate performance driven government.
The question is who is going to evaluate the performance of the Portillo of the Minister of Petroleum resources to be honest holding this position by Tinubu like his predecessor will continue to engulf the sector into more uncertainty and the revenues the government claimed is looking for ,Mr president and everybody knows where the revenues are.
Baba said is Nigeria serious about the revenues leakages and wastage issues ?or will the country continue to use excuses by creating a vehicle that will take us into more abuse of resources .
However, as Sunusi’s position seemed imperative for the economic development of the nation ,previous administrations in Nigeria employed the same style in handling the petroleum sector despite being the major source of revenue for the government.
Professor Abiodun Adeniyi and Baba Yusuf who critically analyze the condition of the NNPC and President Tinubu’s position as Ministry of Petroleum agreed that the former CBN governor’s opinion on the issues are objectively expressed.
At this point President Tinubu needs to rethink and put more effort in order to avoid the mistakes of the past Presidents which lead the country into bankruptcy.
It is also worth noting as mentioned by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi NNPC was not audited for fifteen years until 2020 which is against the law.
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