Subsidy Fraud: 120 Members of House of Reps Endorse Move To Sack Diezani + Others

Lawmakers in the House of Reps have commenced moves to sack Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Austin Oniwon and other top government officials managing the nation’s
oil and gas sector over allege fraud in the management of the fuel subsidy regime, Weekly Trust found out in Abuja yesterday.

The moves according to sources in the National Assembly followed series of revelations from the ongoing investigation by the Rep. Faruk Lawan-led ad-hoc committee in which the affected officials engaged in buck-passing and blame games over the allege fraud.

Other officials whose heads were being sought by the MPs include the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricking and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) Reginald Stanley and the Managing Director of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Haruna Momoh.

“We are moving a motion on the floor of the House under matters of urgent public importance on Tuesday next week in which we will call for the outright suspension of the affected officials who are now under investigation by our ad-hoc committee.”

He added: “It is only natural that they step aside pending the outcome of the investigation. Already, 120 members have endorsed the motion and we are gathering more signatures before the Tuesday session,” the legislator said.

The lawmakers, according to sources, will be probing the activities of oil and gas sector big guns, and the membership of the panel “should be drawn from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the media, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offenses Commission (ICPC) and the Nigeria Police Force.