FG APPROVES 40 Firms for Q3 petrol Importation

The Federal Government has given
approval to 40 companies to import 3.4
million tonnes of petrol in the third quarter
of the year, according to a report by
Reuters.

However, it reported that the list of fuel
suppliers included companies previously
named in the subsidy fraud investigation,
but that large global trading houses have
been left empty-handed.

"The list showed four companies that failed
to cooperate
with parliament's probe were
named as suppliers. These were Nepal,
Fresh Synergy, Ibafon and Techno, which
the parliamentary report showed
collectively claimed subsidies of nearly $
60m," the report said.

"Nepal's website lists its CEO as Ngozi
Ekeoma, who has twice been arraigned by
the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission in relation to fraudulent
subsidy payments. She has pleaded not
guilty to the charges. Phone calls to her
company went unanswered," Reuters
added.

"At least three other companies awarded
third quarter allocations - Masters, Matrix
and MRS - were also ordered to account for
their shipments or refund falsely claimed
subsidy money in another government
report released last June," the report said.

While Matrix provided documents to
Reuters showing it had since been
exonerated by the authorities, the other
firms were said to have declined or did not
respond to repeated requests for
comments by email and telephone.
"It was not clear if these companies had
since repaid their debts or been cleared,"

Reuters claimed.
"Nigerian authorities have taken some
measures to improve controls," said Marc
Gueniat of Swiss NGO, The Berne
Declaration, which campaigns against
corruption in the developing world.
"But the fact that certain companies
accused of participating in the fraud are
continuing to benefit from allocations
raises the question of whether the political
will to change is sincere," he added.
Petrol subsidy gulped N1tn ($6.2bn) last
year, equivalent to 20 per cent of the
federal budget and exceeding the N888bn
budgeted for that purpose.

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