Over N5tn 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.
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