Sanusi's Bombshell: NNPC's Kerosene Subsidy A Big Scam; Another $20b 'Missing'

Controversial Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi

Lamido Sanusi, on Tuesday in Abuja, told the Senate that the Nigerian

National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, kerosene subsidy is a scam.

Sanusi’s allegation is coming few months after he made a similar

allegation in his late 2013 letter to President Goodluck Jonathan,

where he noted that some amount of money made from oil was ‘missing’.

At the Senate Investigative Public Hearing on un-remitted oil revenue

in Abuja, the nation’s chief banker declared that claims by NNPC of

spending money on kerosene subsidy are not credible.

He informed the lawmakers that the sum of $20 billion was not remitted

to the Federation Account by the NNPC, between January 2012 and July

2013, as expected. Sanusi challenged the NNPC to explain how it

legally and constitutionally spent the new ‘missing’ money.

He stressed that kerosene is not a subsidised product, stating that

data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, proves so. He

produced evidence that former President Yar’Adua had issued a

presidential directive eliminating subsidy payment on kerosene as from

July 2009.

Sanusi said, citing records of the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, that

the NNPC imports about four to six vessels of kerosene a month.

Similarly, he said based on industry sources, the Federation Account

loses $100 million monthly due to racketeering in the industry.

Kerosene presently sells at N120-N125 per litre I most Lagos filling