President Bola Tinubu has been called by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project to look into the $2.1 billion and N3.1 trillion in subsidy payments that are reportedly missing and unaccounted for between 2016 and 2019.
In a statement released on Sunday, Kolawole Oluwadare, the Deputy Director of SERAP, made the call.
“Create a presidential panel of enquiry to promptly investigate the grim allegations that $2.1 billion and N3.1 trillion public funds from oil revenues and budgeted as fuel subsidy payments are missing and unaccounted for between 2016 and 2019, as documented by the Auditor-General of the Federation,” SERAP urged Tinubu to do.
The group urged the President to name and shame anyone suspected to be responsible for the alleged widespread and systemic corruption in the use of oil revenues and the management of public funds budgeted for fuel subsidy, and to ensure their effective prosecution as well as the full recovery of any proceeds of crime.
The President was also urged to promptly, thoroughly, independently, transparently and effectively investigate all fuel subsidies paid by successive governments since the return of democracy in 1999, and to use any recovered proceeds of crime as palliatives to address the impact of any subsidy removal on poor Nigerians.
In a letter dated June 3, 2023, Oluwadare stated that there was a legitimate public interest in seeing that these serious claims were resolved with justice and accountability. Without holding those responsible for these violations of human rights accountable, there will be no sustainable economic progress.
The group urged Tinubu to take immediate action to follow due process of law in any strategy to end gasoline subsidies, guarantee that those accused of committing these crimes against Nigerians are prosecuted, and ensure that any lost public funds are recovered in full.
Furthermore, it stated that “removing fuel subsidies arbitrarily without addressing unresolved accountability issues in the alleged mismanagement of oil revenues and fuel subsidy payments would amount to further impoverishing the poor while allowing high-profile officials and non-state actors to get away with their crimes.”
If the President doesn’t order an investigation within three days, SERAP warned that it will file a lawsuit.
