The House of Representatives yesterday threatened to arm twist the executive arm of government to ensure the total implementation of recommendations (when adopted) of the severely indicting report of the Lower House probe of the Federal Government’s petroleum subsidy regime.
Also, the chairman of the ad hoc committee that carried out the probe, Farouk Lawan confirmed to newsmen that the panel resisted pressure from high level government functionaries and business chieftains.
House Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, while receiving the report, fixed Tuesday, April 24 for deliberations on the 61 recommendations made by the committee.
The disclosures were made in a joint press briefing of the Chairman House committee on Media and Publicity, Zakari Mohammed and the Farouk Lawan led Committee on the subsidy probe.
“What we have done is a report and our resolution does not have the force of law. But when the executive will come to us, we’ll say if you don’t do this, we will not do that,” Mohammed threatened.
Speaking on the level of pressure exerted on the subsidy panel from within and outside government, Lawan said, “It was not easy for us to keep ourselves to do the job but we were aware that it was a Nigerian project.
“There was pressure from so many quarters, pressure from those in government, from marketers; some were even going through members of the House to reach us.
“The subsidy report was wide and the scale of fraud scandalous. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC), Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and fraudulent oil marketers are to refund N1.067trn to the coffers of the Federal Government.”