Over 5 Trillion Naira ($31billion_ in government funds have been stolen
through fraud, embezzlement and theft since President Goodluck Jonathan
assumed office on May 6, 2010, a SUNDAY PUNCH investigation has found.
Our correspondents arrived at the stolen sum after poring over the
reports of the various committees set up by the President to probe some
sectors of the economy, particularly oil and gas. SUNDAY PUNCH also
relied on disclosures by some senior government officials.
Five trillion naira is the summation of government funds said to have been stolen, according to the Mallam Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Task Force report; the Minister of Trade and Investment's report on stolen crude; the House of Representatives fuel subsidy report and investigations into the ecological fund, SIM card registration and frequency band spectrum sale.
The Ribadu report on the oil and gas sector put daily crude oil theft at a high 250,000 barrels daily at a cost of $6.3bn (N1.2trn) a year. This puts the total amount lost through oil theft in the two years of Jonathan's government at over $12.6bn (N2trn).
Oil theft is common in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. In June, a special naval team impounded a French ship, MT Vannessa, at Brass Loading Terminal, Bayelsa State, for allegedly stealing 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the country.
Our sister publication, SATURDAY PUNCH, had reported that the suspects, in their confessional statements, indicted some political office holders, many fuel marketers and some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Department of Petroleum Resources.
In October, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, in a letter to the President, said 24 million barrels of oil worth $1.6bn (N252bn) was stolen between July and September.
According to Aganga, his signature was forged on the Export Clearance Permit that was used to export the crude oil from Nigeria.
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