N500b SURE-P funds missing, says Senate

12 hours ago

Decries absence of Alison-Madueke from probe Sends away Sanusis representatives Jonathan hopes for end to nations woesOVER N500 billion belonging to the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) is missing, according to the Senate. The ad-hoc committee of the upper legislative chamber investigating the operations and finances of the SURE-P raised the alarm Tuesday. It expressed anger over the absence of the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, from a meeting meant to deliberate on the alleged missing money. The committee, headed by Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi, said that from enquiries made in the petroleum ministry, a total amount of N834.33 billion accrued to SURE-P between January 2012 and September 2013 is missing. It said that the SURE-P committee, headed by Dr. Christopher Kolade, had informed the Senate ad-hoc committee that only N300 billion was released to it within the period, an issue it said deserved serious investigation. A member of the committee, Kabiru Garba Marafa (Zamfara State), disclosed that a memo from the Petroleum Ministry also showed that 25 billion litres was the quantity of petrol which the partial withdrawal of subsidy yielded within the period. The memo from the ministry, according to the ad-hoc committee, also showed that in 2012 alone, N561.19 billion came to SURE-P while another N273.13 billion accrued to it in 2013. Ningi condemned what he called the lackadaisical attitude of heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to invitations from the National Assembly. Also absent from the meeting was the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who sent two deputy directors to represent him. Rather than listen to representatives of Sanusi, Ningi and other members, including Minority Whip, Ganiyu Solomon, asked them to leave the room. Ningi had berated the petroleum minister and CBN governor, saying: A minister does not make a ministry and if we send a letter, if the minister cannot come, the permanent secretary is there and we have acknowledged them before. Why cant any of them come? Having said that, I believe we are confronted unfortunately by forces of anti-democracy; people who do not understand what democracy is all about. From my experience since 1999, I have never seen this type of crass impunity and disregard of authority. Meanwhile, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is hopeful that the country would overcome its diverse challenges. Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo spoke on behalf of the President in Sokoto yesterday while opening the sixth General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria. Jonathan said that although the task of safeguarding the lives and property of the citizenry remained the responsibility of government, all relevant stakeholders should assist in this regard. According to him, the stakeholders include traditional rulers, community leaders, opinion molders, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, clerics, the private sector and the citizenry. Once we are able to harness our resources towards strengthening our bond of union and we steadfastly hold on to being our brothers keeper, the sky is the limit for Nigeria and we shall get to the Promised Land, he said. He observed that the nation had no alternative to peaceful co-existence because without it, there could be no meaningful development. We have grown to acknowledge that our strength as individuals and as a nation lies in understanding and appreciating our differences. We cannot now relent, he said. He commended the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Saad Abubakar III and co-chaired by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, for convening the meeting to find solutions to the myriad of problems in the nation. He described the choice of theme of the meeting as apt and a wonderful initiative by the traditional rulers to brainstorm on national challenges in order to find lasting solutions. He said that the meeting reinforced the governments consistent efforts to promote inter-religious harmony as well as the stability and unity of the nation in the face of difficult security challenges perpetrated in some parts of the country mostly under the guise of religion. According to the President, religious understanding and tolerance rather than confrontation must continue to guide the citizens collective existence. We must do everything in our power to ensure that religion is neither misused nor abused to justify violence, adding that young people must be shielded from teachings which would take them to the path of hatred and violence. In his address, Col. Bello Fadile (rtd) who represented the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), also praised the council, saying that it was a worthy partner in confronting challenges, especially insecurity. He said that its periodic assemblies had tremendously helped to shape the perception of insecurity and other social problems and that going beyond those lines, such as religion and ethnicity which had been used by mischief-makers to divide the nation and form a common united front, was a precondition to overcoming the challenges. He noted that traditional rulers were valuable stakeholders in the provision of good governance with security being one of the main concerns of any government. According to him, apart from helping the government to keep youths off the street where they are susceptible to negative influences, they could provide very useful and timely information to security agencies in the fight against terrorism. He, however, advised traditional rulers despite their contribution to peace and stability not to seek a defined role in the constitution as that would restrict their God-given powers as leaders of their people. The security adviser who said that he was speaking as one of them, noted: Political patronage should start and end in your palaces. A situation where the traditional rulers are at the beck and call of political juggernauts should not be encouraged. Earlier in his welcome address, the Sultan of Sokoto said the stability and peace of Nigeria was the concern of the council, noting that the large attendance from all over the country underscored the imperative of peace and unity in the country. We are united here for Nigeria and nothing more and we are looking forward to a day when an Igbo can become a governor in the North and an Hausa man can become a governor in the South-South. Then we would have arrived.
Source: GUARDIAN

Nigeria!!!
Well, as ussual this is a breather for OduaGATE and may be the catalyst needed to take it off our minds. While the one to take over from this current one is presently being executed somewhere in Abuja or other states right now
The vicious cycle of hereditry looting continues.

Whaaat?
500bn!
Shey na sheet of paper?

The more you look, the less you see!

Welcome to Corruption in Nigeria Incorporated.

k

Somehow they manage to convince Nigerians that petroleum subsidy is the amnesia. They said the savings would be used for something called SURE-P. I wondered if SURE-P was another name for all the malfeasance bedeviling this nation. They told us that Nigeria is broke, so they cannot fulfill their part of the agreement to meet ASUU demands and salvage Nigeria's education system. Now billions are missing. My argument against the subsidy was that if the government could not manage the huge funds that accrued to it without the subsidy, any future monies accruing from increment in petroleum prices would be mismanaged too. The corruptions keeps getting worse. 500 billion Naira is beyond even the biggest company in the world, thats roughly 2.5 billion dollars. If the presidency mismanaged 500 billion naira, that means it cannot remove the pecks in other people's eyes. This is just overwhelming. Let's see how it unfolds. Until Yakubu and Sanusi speaks, I will keep my fingers crossed.