A civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a request to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to provide it with documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) on the systemic corruption on fuel subsidy to enable it petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.


In the petition dated January 15, 2012 and signed by SERAP Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation hailed Sanusi for recommending that those involved in the fuel subsidy scam to the detriment of millions of Nigerians should be arrested and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities.

“This request is made to obtain the necessary documents for us to swiftly send a petition to the EFCC to achieve the objectives which you have articulated for many years, that is, to bring about the effective prosecution of suspected perpetrators of the subsidy scam,” it said.


The organisation argued that if the problems in the fuel subsidy system were not fully and urgently addressed and suspected perpetrators prosecuted, it would continue to have a devastating effect on investment in the oil and gas sector while also discouraging the building of refineries. It also expressed concern that while N250billion was allocated for fuel ‘subsidy in 2011, by the end of October 2011, over N1.3trillion had been spent.

“Having found that no supplementary appropriation was submitted to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan, we would be grateful for information on who authorised the release of the sum of N1.26 trillion, which was paid by the CBN under your management,” the organisation added.


The organization also said that, “We agree with you that this raises serious suspicion of corruption in the fuel subsidy system. We believe that this situation is a major contributory factor for the situation of extreme poverty in the country, which in itself is a violation of human dignity, inhibiting the full and effective enjoyment of human rights.”

Hopefully, this request will not be swept under. Result will be achieved.

We need to do more to arrest and keep corruption under watch, increase accountability, transparency, or else fight to increase FDI and grow our economy will be an illusion.