Jumoke Adelabu — Abuja
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been asked to set up an independent judicial panel to probe the allegations of high-level corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPCL) and the World Bank operations in Nigeria.
In a letter sent to President Tinubu last Wednesday, a non-governmental organization (NGO), Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER) asked him to appreciate the weight of the illicit practices linked to the NNPCL and the World Bank operations in Nigeria which further dips Nigeria’s image into the soak-away of global disrepute under the president’s watch.
The NGO, established in 1996, asked the president to immediately set up a panel with people like Mr Femi Falana (SAN), Prof Jibrin Ibrahim, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and other credible Nigerians.
The statement by Akinwale Kasali said corruption is at the heart of Nigeria’s underdevelopment and the root cause of violence and extremism that has taken a foothold in many parts of the country.
The statement reads: “The Minister for Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye had revealed that Nigerian World Bank officials take 40 per cent from all loans obtained by Nigeria. She also revealed that some members of the National Assembly demand and receive bribes from loans collected on behalf of 200 million Nigerians, while ministers are entitled to five per cent of the loan.”
JODER said the World Bank officials are both Nigerians and their European rogue cartels whose main motive is to keep Nigeria as a satellite state that will never develop, hiding under the pretences of false assistance and development partnership.
It added: “On the scandal in the oil and gas sector, the Chairman of the Dangote Refinery said some NNPCL officials have set up refineries in Malta with a plot that would automatically stifle the prospect of oil and gas production and destroy indigenous growth of the industry at the home-front.”
The group described the two revelations on the World Bank and the NNPC as the “biggest scam in African recent history”. It added: “‘The first action we expect from President Tinubu is to suspend the NNPC officials whose names have been associated with the scam. The Federal Government should also demand an immediate suspension of the World Bank representative in Nigeria pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The group said the revelations by the minister and Dangote have brutally shaken the faith of Nigerians beyond measure raising the fear that redemption is impossible. It said: “The president needs to give hope to a despairing population that seems to have resigned to hopelessness and frustration.
“These two issues of high-level corruption must never be swept under the carpet. A probe is necessary for Nigeria to regain her lost reputation on the global map. These revelations show that the World Bank loan is a big scam; a conscious plot to stunt Nigeria’s search for economic freedom.
“It shows the loans largely go into private pockets. Little wonder Nigerian government officials are desperate to seek loans all the time, which the National Assembly is always anxious to approve. It is not for development, but to largely oil the pockets of private individuals.”
JODER described the developments as “a human tragedy of unprecedented proportion”.
