Human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has faulted the ultimatum given to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the Director of State Security (DSS) on availability of fuel, saying that such is not part of their duty. In this interview granted Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Falana spoke on the issues surrounding oil theft, fuel subsidy, stealing of local government funds among others. OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI reports…
Is it right for the DSS to give ultimatum to the NNPC over fuel distribution?
The state security does not operate under the law in Nigeria; it does its own thing. There is nobody to call the agency to order. The business of supplying fuel to all parts of Nigeria is that of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and if it is failing to carry out its business, the government is obliged to call the officials to order and if they are not performing, relieve them of their responsibilities. But you know, every year, towards Christmas, there must be artificial shortage of fuel. The ultimatum will not work because there is no sanction for impunity in Nigeria.
Is it that some people would take the DSS for a ride or what?
Nobody is going to be arrested or prosecuted. The other day, toxic fuel was brought into Nigeria, was anybody arrested, was anybody prosecuted, it’s the same thing. They know the people behind this, it’s like oil theft, they know them.
But what security threat could the DSS be referring to in this case?
Its economic sabotage, if the people cannot get fuel there can be serious security problems, which I won’t want to mention here. I can understand what the State Security Service is saying, not DSS, it is not a department of the presidency, it’s state security service for all of us. That body is required to submit request to the government that this issue could lead to insecurity, and ask what can we do about it? It’s a secret agency. The government would then take a decision on how to get the police to move into the filling stations.
Is it the role of the police?
It is about the internal security of the country, it’s the role of the police.
Are you saying that what the DSS is doing is consistent with their job of handling issues having to do with the internal security of Nigeria?
Of course, it can affect the internal security of the country, but they should go to the appropriate agency of the government. They should go to the police, there is a problem because we are not under the military, we are under a civilian government.
Are you saying that this has to do with the internal security of the country?
Yes, you have to link up with all the security agencies since it is a threat to the nation’s security.
Do they have to do it directly?
Not directly, we must rule this country in line with the provisions of the law. We have to go through the Constitution, Sections 214 and 215 of the Nigerian Constitution imposed a duty on the police to maintain internal security of the country. If the police cannot maintain adequate internal security, the president is empowered, even to bring in the military. So, this agency is a secret agency required to submit a report on any threat to the security of Nigeria and the President would then take appropriate action. We cannot have a country where everybody does his own thing.
You said they are to maintain internal security…
What they are expected to do, is like what the CIA and FBI do in the United States of America, you have got information that somebody is threatening the security of Nigeria, somebody is going to blow up a facility, you will call the police to arrest and take the person to court for prosecution.
For the average Nigerian the end result would be for fuel to be available, what do you think should happen, who should take up this case?
The President is the Minister of Petroleum.
But why this silence from the Minister of Petroleum and the Minister of State for Petroleum?
We are operating a dysfunctional system, the NNPC and the government came up with the issue of removing subsidy, fuel will sell for N400 in the interim.
So, they are also preparing to increase fuel price, Nigerians should get used to it. It’s an experiment that is going on, and it could lead to security threat. They are doing this so that Nigerians would get used to it and they would say even if it’s going to sell for N300 or N400 once it is available, that’s the plan. Now, elections are around the corner and the ruling party has to pretend that they are addressing the problem.
I want you to talk about subsidy. You once said that removing subsidy is like removing the little welfare that Nigerian have access to, do you still hold on to this?
For sure, we have just been told that we could not meet our OPEC quota, billions of dollars had been stolen by wellknown oil thieves; local and international companies, including the oil companies, and the government knows them. This regime went to the National Assembly that for subsidy in 2022 we are going to spend N443 billion. The government went to the National Assembly that it is now N4 Trillion. The Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Ahmad Ali (rtd.) went to the National Assembly to say that these figures are fake. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva said that it’s a criminal enterprise. Nobody has challenged these highly placed government officials. It’s no longer subsidy for the poor, it’s now subsidy for smugglers and criminal elements.
Does it mean you are not against subsidy removal but the handling of subsidy?
I’m totally against subsidy removal because there is no basis for it. There is no country in the world that they don’t subsidise the poor. The United States of America spent 2.6trillion dollars for the needy, and the poor through transfers during COVID-19. That is the hotbed of capitalism.
That means the theft is going on in two forms; subsidy and oil thefts…
Oh yes.
If you are saying the theft is going on in these forms, why did you say that subsidy should remain?
Yes, the government is to combat theft from the roots. When they hired a private organisation to do the job, the revelations are simply amazing that you have some pipelines through which crude oil has been smuggled for nine years and Shell says they are not aware. That is the basis for poverty and inequality in our country.
If subsidy cannot prevent oil theft, why are we advocating that there should not be total removal of subsidy?
Section 14 of the constitution says that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary responsibility of the government. So, the government has to take care of the welfare of the people and make sure that they provide subsidy for the needy, and they should not enrich criminals as it is going on now. That is why you have a government in place to deal with the ones committing crimes, including economic crimes and other kinds of crimes. So the government is saying because smugglers are taking fuel out of the country, they would remove subsidy, its illogical. They are going to create more poverty in our country. 133 million people are said to be living below poverty level in Nigeria. That is the official figure by NBS. What the government should be doing is how do we combat poverty, how do we eliminate inequality in our country.
May be that is why the DSS wants to be involved?
What they should have done is to conduct discreet investigations; they should then arrest those who are promoting artificial scarcity. We will only appreciate what they are doing if the culprits have been arrested and are arraigned in court. But when you just issue a threat, it won’t work.
How do you think the issue should be handled to ensure that the welfare of the people is taken care of?
The National Assembly has failed to ask for the details. They carry out all manner of investigations on given. We were simply told that they are increasing fuel subsidy from N443billion to N4trillion without the details. How much fuel do we consume daily? Many people have said that the NNPC is lying by saying that it is 68 million litres. At a stage, the NNPC said it is 102 million litres per day, whereas the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said that it was 82.8 million litres per day. So, which of these figures do we believe? Why should the government import fuel into Nigeria after seven years in office? It was under Muhammadu Buhari as minister of petroleum resources under the military that two refineries were built. When he was campaigning in 2014, he said that he was going to repair them and build more, so what has now happened? The government has an alternative, which is that there is alternative to PMS, which is CNG. In September 2020, the Minister of State for Petroleum said that this has been accepted. I was involved in the campaign for five years. Once we are able to convert PMS to CNG tanks in our vehicles, fuel would sell at N90. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said then that N250billion had been earmarked for the conversion. Nobody has informed us why this has not been done. I know that between Edo State and Lagos State we have not less than 5,000 vehicles that had been converted from PMS. We were looking for an alternative by the government to be funded by the CBN. What has happened to the money and the project? Not less than 10,000 vehicles in Africa are on CNG. We are not moving at all.
Considering the poverty situation and insecurity in the country, the President spoke about how some governors pocket local government money and the Minister of State for National Planning also talked about poverty, it looks like the state are not doing there bit. They talked about derivation and ecological funds; specifically do you agree with the President that the state governments still pocket local governments’ funds?
With profound respect, when I listened to the President he is speaking like any of the NGOs, like SERAP that talked about some of these things and come up with reports to reveal monumental fraud being perpetrated all over the place; when the President does that it’s worrisome because the President is empowered to stop illegal diversion of funds. The president cannot give the impression that he is helpless. You said you know a Governor that when N100 million is allocated to a local government, he takes N50 million. What have you been doing about that governor? Is the governor about the law? This regime, the APC-led government, has majority of the state governments.
So, it’s an indictment on the party?
Of course, what have you done as the leader of your party? Is it the problem of your party, what have you done to call them to order. Again, this is where the State Security Service comes in. In every local government; you have staff of the State Security Service. The EFCC has just about 5,000 staff, are they collaborating with them to stop the criminal diversion of local government funds?
When you say that the President has the power to stop the local government fund diversion, is it via an executive bill?
No, there are agencies of the government, particularly the ICPC and the EFCC, the government ought to have made the information available to them and tell them to stop the milking of local governments. We must not allow the federal and the state governments to engage in this blame game. I have heard the positions of the federal government and those of the state government.
We need to address the problem of poverty in this country, which has to do with the implementation of neo-liberal policies, privatization or sale of public assets in the country, commercialization of services beyond the reach of the majority of the people, and importation of goods that can be produced in your country. These are the causes of poverty in Nigeria. What we are told is lack of access to education and health are the causes of poverty. Why is there is lack of access to education? These are the indicators of poverty in Nigeria. But they are not addressing the root cause.fuel supply and so many things. But when the budget is presented the details are not (New Telegraph)
