Former Governor of Bauchi State and ex-Minister of State for Transportation and Aviation, Isa Yuguda, has alleged that the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited and the monies being paid as subsidy on fuel products in Nigeria were scams.
Yuguda said that while he was the Chairman of the Sub-committee on Subsidy under the Goodluck Jonathan government in 2009, the national oil company paid subsidies on pipelines that do not exist.
He made the allegation during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, June 26, 2023.
He explained that the perpetrators of the subsidy scam had made so much money from Nigeria, and had brought the nation to its knees financially.
He narrated an incident when a friend of his highlighted the kind of money made from the scam.
“I remember a friend of mine in the oil industry who, during a meeting of an economic think tank. He called the then president aside and said, ‘Mr President please stop this subsidy; we are tired of making money.”
Yuguda, however, did not name the friend or the president involved.
He also noted that “We’re bringing in this fuel at an elevated cost, and half of it is exported out of Nigeria by the same people collecting money for it.
“Subsidy was claimed on pipelines that never existed. Invoice is created, and NNPC just pays.”
He noted that there is no reason why the refineries in the country are not functional despite the billions of naira spent on them every year.
The former governor also called for the prosecution of those involved in the subsidy scam, noting that since 2009, a committee he headed had uncovered the scam and drawn the government’s attention to it, and that the scam has grown over time.
“The records are all there, and there is no time limit to investigate these people. If government has the political will, these individuals can be held to account”, he said.
He also said former President Muhammadu Buhari must have known about the subsidy scam since he was president and minister of petroleum.
