Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on
Thursday, described the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as the
engine room of corruption, lamenting that none of the perpetrators of
illegal deals in the corporation had so far been apprehended and brought
to justice.
He, therefore, challenged the leadership
of the Nigeria Labour Congress to assist the Federal Government to fight
corruption by encouraging their members in the oil and gas sector to
expose those behind subsidy scam in the country.
Saraki who stated this while addressing
the leadership of the NLC led by its President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, in his
office, asked the oil and gas workers to reveal the identities of
subsidy thieves and watch whether they would be protected or not.
He
said, “I think we need the cooperation of our workers who know it all.
They see it happen and when you look at the anti-corruption agencies,
with all due respect, you will find out that 80 per cent of some of the
cases are cases at the state level.
“You hardly see where people who are the
real engine room – which is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation –
where most of these corruption cases on oil are, being put on trial.”
He said it was time workers helped the government succeed to decisively tackle corruption through collective efforts.
Saraki noted that President Muhammadu
Buhari had made it clear that his administration would fight corruption
to its logical end, stressing that the Senate had on its part started
the process by engaging the Independent Corrupt Practices and other
Related Offences Commission.
He also said that the upper chamber would
soon interact with the management of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and other anti-graft agencies in order to fashion out a
collective to tackle the menace of corruption.
Saraki assured Nigerians that the Senate
under his watch would fight corruption with a view to blocking leakages
and create gainful employment.
He said, “We in the 8th Senate have said
there will be zero tolerance for corruption. Corruption is one issue
slowing down development and some of the problems we are tackling.
“Whether you talk about our refineries
not working, you talk of the issue of fuel subsidy, you talk about the
high cost of governance, everything you talked about comes back to this
issue of corruption and I think it is time for all of us, those of us in
the National Assembly, the Executive and the workers to show serious
commitment.
“This should not be a headline-grabbing
approach because at the end of the day, you are workers, when you talk
about oil theft, we have Nigerian workers at the terminals who surely
must know when this thing is going on.
“Everywhere that there is corruption,
some workers are there either participating or observing. We now have a
great opportunity to win the war against corruption because we have a
leadership led by President Muhammadu Buhari that we believe has the
political will to do the right thing”
He said the excuses of Nigerian workers
that when they blow the whistle on corrupt practices nothing would be
done because the system is corrupt right from the top, was No longer
tenable because the current administration in the country has the
political will to deal with the scourge.
Saraki said, “We are assuring you that at
the executive side, we have elected the President that will do it well.
I am making the commitment on behalf of the National Assembly and
myself that we are committed to fighting corruption.”
Wabba lamented the current high cost of
governance coupled with the high exchange rate which according to him
was having serious negative impact on the lives of workers.
Wabba said that the reduction of salaries
announced by the President, the Vice-President and some state governors
was not the solution to the problem of high cost of governance in the
country.
The NLC President also called for a more transparent execution of the National Assembly annual budget.
He recalled that the budget for the
National Assembly for 2011 was shrouded in secrecy because the lawmakers
used their influence to move it into the first line charge in the
Federation Account.
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