Nigeria suffers a nationwide fuel shortage. Only the Nigerian Institute of Social Research and Social Studies Departments in universities can calculate the cost to business, communities and citizens of the trillions of hours and naira lost to the 160+m [are we really 200m+?] Nigerian citizens. Just think about it and multiply it for hours, business, appointments, study time, work time, travel time, loses, power cuts, and losses of opportunities, perishable farm foods and closed businesses unable to obtain fuel.
NNPC is being called out once again to defend its role as umpire and main fuel supply chain actor including strategic reserves to combat the extreme shortages Fellow Nigerians are suffering three weeks.
Nigerians urge the Presidency to initiate three investigations into its finances and structure.
The first NNPC investigation should be a forensic audit, perhaps by the same body which did the CBN investigation. This will bring the NNPC quickly in line with the administration’s clean-up in CBN. This investigation will send a serious message to Nigerians and encourage the SERAP, Legit, EFCC and ICPC-led anticorruption drive. NNPC Ltd is the largest corporate body in Nigeria and handles the current life blood of Fellow Nigerians financial survival in naira and dollar inflows and costs. Sadly, the NNPC Ltd needs a forensic inquisition to make its management and staff less prone to corrupt practices.
The second NNPC Ltd investigation required is the administration efficiency investigation. If failures in the NNPC’s fuel supply chain are to be stopped, then the whole structure requires an administrative audit. This will be to identify the bottle necks to the latest spectacular failure in service delivery. Such an NNPC administrative audit will explore the human action failures, the emails and phone calls timelines, who was sitting on their hands waiting for gratification instead of signing off on procurement and delivery confirmation protocols timely and as-and-when-due and who always delay decisions to demonstrate the power of an office or for gratification. This urgently needed NNPC Ltd administrative audit is justified and overdue for both commercial and service delivery credibility and to restore confidence in the NNPC Ltd.
The third investigation is a federal character audit. NNPC Ltd stands accused, with justification, of having serious ethnic bias, and not in any way favouring the states, victims of environmental disasters, which deliver the oil lion’s share. Nigerians demand representation in NNPC Ltd.
Cybersecurity deductions for the security of the secrets, databases and operational IT of government and its MDAs has always been and should remain the responsibility of the government through budget line items with cybercrime running costs budget, simple.
Cybersecurity deductions for the business community secrets and databases should be squarely in the hands of budget line item of businesses, be they banks, financial institutions, corporations and even kiosk databases and library and private hospital and school databases.
Why should cybersecurity require a new tax? Is this another giant fiscal scam in the making in which office holders will be tempted by trillions to spend unaccountably as the workings of the NSA office are secret. Imagine giving NSA ‘free money’. Yes, the circular mentions big organisations which will pay the money to make up the tax but those organisations will turn on the client citizens and extract the funds somehow. The bottom line is that this is a new additional and unnecessary ridiculous camouflaged charge on citizens! As pointed out by Baba Yusuf, there are four layers of taxes – federal, state, LGA, bandits/kidnapper and please add for non-bandit areas, the area boys, parking boys and those seeking funds at every gate of every function, etc.
The history of ‘Funds’, Pension, Police, Education etc. leave a bad taste in management and value questions with poor accountability and little value for the huge funds disbursed. Nigerians are reeling from TETFUND revelations as ‘Funds’ allow the few to freely spend our money. Most of the previous ‘Funds’ have never met the much boasted about goals and the consequent expectations of the citizenry, even though the expectations of the often corruption and greed driven creators of such ‘Funds’ ideas may have been met. Nigeria has a way of turning every, even good golden, idea into dust.
Nigerians already pay transfer charges, COT/FGN Electronic Money Transfer Levy and other charges
Some were introduced at the whim of the then CBN governor and collaborators in the banks.
The visit of Prince Harry, founder of the INVICTUS GAMES and Meghan has the silent message emphasising the plight of many and the amazing performance of some of our injured armed forces personnel in mental recovery and sports and work-related activities. Congratulations to the armed forces and organisations, NGOs and sports bodies. But many more hands must come on deck – like BIG BROTHER, Corporate Nigeria Nollywood and the media. The federal, state and LGAs as well as Corporate Nigeria, not only in Abuja but at state, LGA and ward level must participate in honouring supporting injured officers and men. They have less than 10% of needed mobility equipment, prostheses, wheelchairs, jerseys, kit and equipment for sporting, work support and travel assistance for local and international opportunities.
Harry and Meghan’s silent exemplary message to Nigeria’s political and financial leadership is to increase our government and private sector budgets and activities and services for empowerment, recreation and rehabilitation of injured armed forces and all challenged persons.
