Human rights attorney Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has criticised Bola Tinubu’s nomination as Minister of Petroleum, pointing out that the Constitution’s need for Senate screening was not met.
The flamboyant attorney. said this, according to Tribune, during the book launch of “Dis Life No Balance: An Anthology of Diasporan Nigerian Voices,” which was written by Dr. Osmund Agbo, Professor Moses Ochonu, and Professor Farooq Kperogi.
Falana stated that Nigeria finds it challenging to hold the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) responsible given Tinubu’s position as Minister of Petroleum.
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“Last week, a former Governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi advised President Bola Tinubu against occupying the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, saying that such an arrangement makes it difficult for the country to hold the NNPCL accountable.
“He also said the exchange rate needs to be stabilised and we have to address the fundamental questions; why is no money coming in? Why is the NNPCL unable to bring in dollars? Where are the dollars? The Finance minister cannot tell us because he does not have the monitoring system that reports to him, the Finance Minister can’t tell you how many barrels of petrol that we produce and export.
“It is only the NNPCL that can give the figures; the Ministry needs to know how much oil we produce in a day.
“We paid N11 trillion for 8 years under president Muhammadu Buhari to import fuel, so why are there no investigation in the respect to the colossal some of money and with respect, this is my answer; President Bola Tinubu is not the Minister of Petroleum Resources, as his nomination was never sent to the Senate for Screening as mandatorily required by Section 147 of the Constitution.
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“My advice is that the President should not parade himself as a Minister of Petroleum like President Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.
In addition to his request that the NNPCL disclose Nigeria’s daily oil and gas earnings, he said that on April 27, 2019, the Senate committee on Public Accounts held a public hearing in the National Assembly Complex to investigate the country’s LNG earnings. During the hearing, a representative of the LNG company stated that Nigeria received dividend payments totaling $18 billion between 2004 and 2020.
Falana claimed the woman also disclosed that, from 2011 and the present, the LNG has paid $9 billion in taxes, with a further $15 billion going to the NNPCL.
According to him, the Senate requested that the Accountant General of the Federation prepare a report on the LNG’s disclosure; however, as of right now, such report has not been made public.
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“It may interest this audience to note that in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the NNPCL received the sum of $2.2 billion from the LNG and this money is meant for the Federation Account, therefore, the NNPCL is withholding illegally the total sum of $35.3 billion from the Federation Account,” the lawyer noted.
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