Falana seeks investigation of petrol importation scam

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called for the swift investigation of the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) scam.

Falana made this call during Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, saying there is no better time to probe petrol scam than now.

“It is high time the importation scam was investigated. I am not talking of the joke that is going on in the National Assembly. The media must help civil society organisations to expose the fraud,” he said.

There have been reports that a $6 billion debt the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) owes petrol suppliers has worsened petrol scarcity in Nigeria.

CityNews Nigeria  recalls that the NNPCL on Sunday finally admitted the company’s significant debt to petrol suppliers, saying it posed a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply.

“Once the government begins to speak about affordability and sustainability in response to growing queues at filling stations, there are problems,” Falana stated.

According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, there is no full disclosure on the part of the government on subsidy on petrol, adding that Nigeria can’t spend “$2.9bn to fix the refineries” yet the dates for the resumption of production at the refineries have been constantly shifted.

The legal luminary threatened to sue those responsible for the fixing of state-owned refineries should they announce another postponement.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, had said the landing cost per litre of petrol has made it impossible for petrol marketers to import the essential commodity as was done by the NNPCL.