Tuesday, April 24, 2012

THE 61 RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE #FUELSUBSIDY COMMITTEE (Part 2)

40.The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) should be encouraged within a time frame to improve on the draught level of the Nigerian waters to encourage the berthing of ALL types of vessels so as to eliminate the present ship-to-ship (STS) transfers by importers of petroleum products.

41.All those in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Director-General Budget, and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation involved in the extra budgetary expenditure under the PSF Scheme (2009-2011) should be sanctioned in accordance with the Civil Service Rules and the Code of Conduct Bureau.

42.The payment of N999,000,000 in 128times within 24hrs (12th& 13th January, 2009) by the Office of the Accountant -General of the Federation should be further investigated by relevant Anti-Corruption Agencies.

43.The National Assembly should enact an Act to criminalise extra budgetary expenditure.

44.CBN and the Federal Ministry of Finance should critically examine and review the policy guiding payment for importation of petroleum products to avoid the current fraudulent system that allows importers to bring in products from off-shore "Lome" or "Cotonou" to qualify for forex payments.

45.The Committee notes that several alarms were raised by the CBN on the escalation of subsidy figures but these early warning signals were ignored by relevant agencies. The Committee wishes to encourage whistle –blowing by regulatory agencies on threats to the economy with the hope that proactive measures could be taken.

46.The Committee recommends that the PPMC Management be overhauled. In furtherance to above recommendations of the committee, institutional mechanisms be urgently developed to ensure themonitoring of actual delivery of kerosene to the Nigerian masses.

47.The PPMC should deploy modern state-of-the-art devices to protect its facilities and pipelines to eliminate wastages arising from vandalism. In the short-term however, PPMC should establish a surveillance system which should incorporate Community-protection and using part of the bridging funds on the PSF Template to finance this.

48.All the extant circulars preventing the Nigeria Customs Service from carrying out its statutory functions be immediately withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

49.The Committee recommends that NNPC takes immediate action to pay the N46billion owed the Nigeria Customs Service and the N6billion owed to the Nigeria Ports Authority

50.The failure of NPA to provide this Committee the vital vessel data particularly the IMO numbers is an indication that either NPA has a very poor record keeping system or that it was a deliberate ploy to cover up the collusion between its officials and importers. We recommend an investigation into the operations and activities of this Authority.

51.The port operations of the Nigerian Ports Authority be investigated with a view to determining the extent to which its officials are complicit in the classification of maritime areas for reception of Nigerian bound petroleum products as "offshore Cotonou" and "offshore Lome" in the face of evidence that these Vessels never did lighter at those Ports.

52.In the course of this investigation, a lot of efforts were made to establish cases of round tripping and diversion of products, including the use of the data from Llyods List Intelligence resulting in the cases so far reported. However given the scale of connivance and collusion by government officials involved in the certification process, the Committee believes that further investigation will reveal more cases. It is therefore recommended that all the data obtained in the course of this investigation, especially from the Llyods List Intelligence be forwarded to the relevant anti-corruption agencies for a more detailed investigation.

53.The present Management of PEF (M)B should be overhauled and the Board when constituted should comprise of persons of impeccable integrity who should be knowledgeable in aspects of its mandate. This is without prejudice to the coming into force of the Petroleum Industry Act.

54.PEF(M)B should establish a tracking system on all trucks from point of loading to point of discharge (retail outlets) and direct that all trucks involved with transportation of products should install approved tracking devices on them.

55.It is hereby recommended that the regulatory capacity of the DPR be strengthened. The National Assembly should commence the process of amending the Act to make the Agency autonomous.

56.The DPR should take immediate steps to bring all facilities and depot owners into compliance with international best practices by ensuring the installation of modern metering gadgets and sealable and non-return valves, to eliminate the rampant cases of round-tripping.

57.The DPR should brace up to its role of Regulation and compel the NNPC/PPMC to comply with all the regulations issued to ensure transparency and accountability.

58.In order to reduce and gradually eliminate lightering, associated inefficiency and cost, Government should invest in the provision of Single Point Mooring (SPM's). This provision should be followed up by instituting Regulations to compel Owners of Jetties, depots and storage facility owners to develop pipeline throughput availability to facilitate direct delivery of imported products by heavy vessels, in-shore Nigeria.

59.There should be a deliberate policy by Government to encourage the utilization of gas in automobile, domestic (cooking), and industrial facilities.
60.As a matter of urgency and in furtherance of our national security requirements, a national strategic reserve should be immediately enhanced so to accommodate 90days stop gap strategic reserve.
61.We strongly recommend that relevant Standing Committees of the National Assembly should be more proactive in their oversight responsibilities to forestall future occurrences.

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