By Ogochukwu Isioma
The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN), has said that as Nigeria celebrates its 65th independence, the Federal Government must take decisive action to root out the cabals in the oil and gas sector.
In a statement signed by the Founder and Chairman, Governing Council, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, the Institute stated that its forensic analysis revealed how cabals operating through proxy sector institutions like the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and the unions such as the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), created formidable bottlenecks that perpetuate scarcity and import dependency.
To break the vicious cycle, Gashinbaki said the Federal government must adopt a four-pronged approach. “One, invoke all legal instruments, including the Petroleum Industry Act, to treat these obstructive actions as economic sabotage. Two, assert executive authority against any group holding our economy to ransom and harming public trust in government’s performance. Three, designate strategic national assets like the Dangote Refinery as critical infrastructure deserving maximum protection and finally, encourage other big private sector players to invest in the oil and gas industry in order to create greater competitiveness within the oil and gas sector as already seen in the successes of the telecommunication sector.”
As Gashinbaki put it: “Our forensic investigations confirm Nigeria possesses staggering reserves of over 37 billion barrels of oil and 208 trillion cubic feet of gas – resources capable of powering our nation, industrializing our economy, and securing prosperity for generations. Yet, our domestic refining history tells a story of persistent failure. The Kaduna Refinery, Warri Refinery, and Port Harcourt Refineries I and II now stand as failed monuments, forcing us to export crude oil while importing expensive refined products in a paradoxical economic arrangement that has consistently drained our national wealth.”
This is why the Institute is rooting for the Dangote Refinery which was involved in a recent stand-off with PEGASSAN with a strike action only averted by the intervention of the federal government.
“The Dangote Petroleum Refinery with the capacity of refining 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily represents a transformative breakthrough, demonstrating what private enterprise can achieve where public institutions have consistently failed,” Gashinbaki declared.
“This world-class facility promised not only to meet domestic fuel needs but to position Nigeria as a net exporter – a beacon of hope for millions of Nigerians seeking to break the chains of our resource curse.”
He said Nigeria at 65 cannot allow vested interests to continue holding “our prosperity hostage. We must collectively defend the promise of private sector led energy independence and finally declare our freedom from the cabals that have undermined our national progress for too long.”
