From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has condemned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over its lies to the Senate Committee on Finance investigating the alleged non-remittance of $20bn oil proceeds to the Federation Account. Reacting to the news, Chairman of the Coalition, Debo Adeniran noted that the denial of receiving N6bn by the NPDC confirmed the level of rots in the NNPC. He said, “It is very ridiculous how our leaders lie blatantly to Nigerians every day. This revelation by the NPDC has confirmed the ugly trend of corruption in the system. “It is no longer news that the NNPC is the cesspit of official corruption in the country and the conduit pipe through which our common patrimony is diverted into private coffers. “It is so unfortunate that $20bn got missing in the NNPC care and all the corporation could do is to blab. Is the NNPC telling Nigerians that it doesn’t keep the account of crude oil proceeds and its expenditures? “Why is it difficult for a corporation that boasts of professionals in different fields to reconcile its accounts from 2012 to 2013, which is just a year? “Whosoever told such barefaced lie must be cooling his feet in the jail now, if it were in saner climes. $20bn is no small money, we need to investigate where this money went. “It is high time President Goodluck Jonathan asked the Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke to step aside for presiding over the rots, so as to give room for a dispassionate investigation”, it said. The anti-corruption crusader therefore urged the Senate Committee to do a thorough investigation on the allegation and hand over its report to the relevant anti-graft agencies for appropriate prosecution.

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (SR), comprising more than Sixty Nigerian Civil Society groups, yesterday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately sack the Minister of Finance, Ngozi

Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison Madueke, over the alleged missing $20 billion.

Others whom the group said should be sacked are the Group Managing Director (GMD)of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu and other officials connected to the missing 20 billion dollars scandal at the NNPC.

It equally urged the leadership of the National Assembly to convene an independent judicial commission of inquiry to investigate allegations that the said unremitted oil revenue has been stolen from public purse at the NNPC.

It would be recalled that the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had on February 4th, told the Senate Committee on Finance that out of the $67 billion crude oil sale that was supposed to be remitted to the federation account, only $47 billion has been reconciled between NNPC and CBN, leaving a balance of $20billion unaccounted.

Sanusi came up with a new figure of about $20 billion unremitted funds to CBN against the initial figure of $10.8 billion, which was arrived at during the account reconciliation meeting involving the Ministry

of Finance, NNPC and CBN during a public hearing on alleged unremitted $49.8 billion oil revenue.

According to a communiqué of a meeting to review the State of the nation by the civil society groups, held in Abuja, yesterday, it decried what it described as “the levity with which President Jonathan has handled this colossal and high level of corruption, even as it raised concern about his ability to govern.

Commenting on recent Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) statement of being adequately prepared for the 2015 general elections, the SR said they are concerned that there are several gaps in the election preparations.

On the security situation across the country particularly in the North East region of the country, the CSOs said the government has not shown sufficient ability or competence to tackle the menace of security in the north- east and even across the rest of the country.