Fuel Import Criteria: We Were Kept In The Dark, By PPPRA Ex-Board Member
WHILE
the former National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Alhaji Ahmadu Ali, was Board Chairman of the Petroleum Products
Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), it has been alleged, no member of the
board knew the criteria used to determine firms licensed to import
petroleum products.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a former board member, who served under Ali’s chairmanship, told The Guardian in Abuja yesterday that the criteria set to determined those who should import fuel into the country was shrouded in secrecy.
He said: “As a Board member, I did not know what criteria were used to determined the suitability or otherwise of those that moored fuel into the country.
“Each time we raised the issue, Ali would dismiss us with a wave of the hand, saying we did not know how the country operates.
“Apart from that, each time we brought the issue up with the management, they informed us that we could not understand the technicalities that were involved in determining the criteria.
“They eventually decided to send members of the board abroad for training on the technicalities. By that time, I had left the board. ”
But speaking from the PPPRA perspective, an official, who craved anonymity, said the requirements for fuel importation are well known to the minister, the Presidency and all that are supposed to know.
“Those who should know knew what we did. The minister knows and the Presidency knows all the requirements that are needed for anybody to import fuel into the country.
“We did our job within what the law provides,” he stated.
Indeed, it was the agitations of the labour movement over constant upward adjustment of the pump prices that prompted the government of the President Olusegun Obasanjo to establish the PPPRA to meet from time to time to determine how much petroleum should be sold, considering the vagaries prevailing in the international oil arena.
Consequently, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have members on the Board of the agency. But the assurances by President Jonathan Goodluck that no one would be spared if indicted in the oil import sleaze is enough to convince the NLC that indeed those that have been accused of shady deals in the importation regime would be brought to book.
Speaking in a telephone conversation with The Guardian yesterday, the TUC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, said the congress believes in the integrity of the judiciary to ensure justice is done irrespective of the personalities involved. He said: “We believe that the judiciary is credible enough to ensure justice is done. The President has come out to tell the nation that anybody found wanting after the trial will face the wrath of the law, and we believe in what he has said.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a former board member, who served under Ali’s chairmanship, told The Guardian in Abuja yesterday that the criteria set to determined those who should import fuel into the country was shrouded in secrecy.
He said: “As a Board member, I did not know what criteria were used to determined the suitability or otherwise of those that moored fuel into the country.
“Each time we raised the issue, Ali would dismiss us with a wave of the hand, saying we did not know how the country operates.
“Apart from that, each time we brought the issue up with the management, they informed us that we could not understand the technicalities that were involved in determining the criteria.
“They eventually decided to send members of the board abroad for training on the technicalities. By that time, I had left the board. ”
But speaking from the PPPRA perspective, an official, who craved anonymity, said the requirements for fuel importation are well known to the minister, the Presidency and all that are supposed to know.
“Those who should know knew what we did. The minister knows and the Presidency knows all the requirements that are needed for anybody to import fuel into the country.
“We did our job within what the law provides,” he stated.
Indeed, it was the agitations of the labour movement over constant upward adjustment of the pump prices that prompted the government of the President Olusegun Obasanjo to establish the PPPRA to meet from time to time to determine how much petroleum should be sold, considering the vagaries prevailing in the international oil arena.
Consequently, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have members on the Board of the agency. But the assurances by President Jonathan Goodluck that no one would be spared if indicted in the oil import sleaze is enough to convince the NLC that indeed those that have been accused of shady deals in the importation regime would be brought to book.
Speaking in a telephone conversation with The Guardian yesterday, the TUC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, said the congress believes in the integrity of the judiciary to ensure justice is done irrespective of the personalities involved. He said: “We believe that the judiciary is credible enough to ensure justice is done. The President has come out to tell the nation that anybody found wanting after the trial will face the wrath of the law, and we believe in what he has said.”
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