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A non Governmental Organisation, Environmental Management and Disaster Risk Reduction Institute (EMDRRI) of Nigeria, has alerted the federal government to what it called the collosal loss of money that ought to accrue to the federation through the sale of crude oil.
In an open letter to the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, signed by Chairman, of the institute, Stephen Ogboli, said findings made by the institute, revealed that government only get paid for the value of crude oil, and gets nothing from by-products of such sales.
According to him, “there are many by-products obtained when crude oil gets refined from which the government ought to have make money.
He said that the institute discovered that monies that ought to be paid for the by-products are often diverted to private pockets by some well-placed officials and cabals.
As contained in the open letter, Ogboli said, “For 25 years and counting, a lot of under-reporting and under-declaration are being done by the NNPC, its agents and their foreign collaborators.
“Let me explain Sir, every barrel of oil taken out for refining contains other basic components starting from PMS, but only three or four components are always talked about; which then compelled me to ask who then accounts for the basic bi-products like plastics and many other components derivable when refining is carried out.
“At the institute, I conducted a baseline data analysis that showed that these short-changing of our reporting and accounting system might have reduced our pains over the past years.
“The amount the nation could have made is mind-boggling as it could be in the region of over one trillion dollars.
“This is money that is much needed to tackle today’s challenges.”
He urged President Tinubu to beam investigative searchlight on the areas highlighted, even as he said that his group is willing to provide ample evidence of the theft, if called upon to do so.
Ogboli concluded that plugging the gaps through which humongous sums are embezzled is no rocket science and that doing so would give the nation some much-needed money to spend on infrastructures of national importance.
