60% of fuel subsidy funds smuggled abroad –Jonathan

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="post-257896 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news entry" style="margin: 0px 0px 30px;"> <h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://www.punchng.com/wp-content/themes/punch/images/dots-horizontal.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; border-top-color: rgb(255, 1, 1) !important; border-top-style: solid !important; border-top-width: 1px !important; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 9px 4px;"> <br /></h1> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span><div class="entry-content" style="overflow: hidden;"> <div class="story-featured-image" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); float: left; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-right: 15px; min-width: 378px !important; width: 368px;"> <img alt="President Goodluck Jonathan" class="attachment-bigstoryimage" height="225" scale="0" src="http://www.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/President-Goodluck-Jonathan-360x225.jpg" style="border: none; float: left; margin-right: 10px; padding: 4px;" width="360" /><div class="featured-image-caption" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 5px; padding: 5px 10px 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President Goodluck Jonathan</span></div> </div> <div style="float: left; padding: 10px 18px 5px 0px; width: 370px;"> <ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7167863529667065" data-ad-slot="6184555097" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" style="display: inline-block; height: 140px; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_expand" style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: none; display: block; height: 140px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 370px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="140" hspace="0" id="aswift_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_0" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="370"></iframe></ins></ins></ins></div> <div id="nrelate_flyout_placeholder"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday lamented that a number of government programmes, which ought to have been effectively implemented for the benefit of Nigerians, could not be realised owing to poor data management system.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For instance, he listed the abuse of the fuel subsidy scheme, which was meant to reduce the cost of transportation for Nigerians as well as make life more meaningful for the ordinary people, as one of the disadvantages of not having an efficient national identity management system.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The President, who said this in Abuja during the unveiling of the national identity card, noted that it was unfortunate that after spending billions of naira annually on fuel subsidy payment, majority of the citizens did not get to enjoy the subsidy owing to the fact that about 60 per cent of the funds were smuggled out of the country.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He lamented that those who smuggled the subsidy funds out of the country were the ones who later turned around to instigate the citizens against the government.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jonathan said, “I’m particularly pleased with the National Identity Management Commission because a number of things we are supposed to do well as a nation, we are not doing well. And sometimes, we blame the government because of the failure of the system and the credibility of the process.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“If you take the issue of subsidy of transport; what we do is subsidising hydrocarbon, it does not go to the ordinary people. Government spends huge sums of money, hundreds of billions of naira every year in the budget, ask the National Assembly.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Sometimes it is controversial subsidising kerosene; yet, it is going very high in the market, subsidising the PMS and so on.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We are thinking about how to subsidise the transportation system such as the person going to school, the person going to the market, the person moving from Lagos to Enugu or Lagos to Kano, and not paying subsidy 60 per cent of which will be smuggled out of the country.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“And those who make the money will come and use that money to induce the people suffering to even riot against government.”</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said the lack of an efficient national identity management system had made it difficult for Nigerians, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid, to benefit from government’s programmes.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to him, it is difficult to effectively replicate the amnesty programme for the Niger Delta region in the North when the security crisis began few years ago owing to lack of accurate data of those affected by insurgency.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jonathan said, “When the issue of the crisis in the North came up, some people came up with the idea of how we could replicate the amnesty programme of the Niger Delta in the North.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“And I said, look, we must not wait for people to carry arms against the state before we help them. I said let us as a government identify those without jobs. I asked those in finance to see our resources and how we can accommodate them, and not to wait for the youth to carry weapons against the state in the South East, South-South and North East before you can think of how to address their needs.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I asked the then Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, to come up with a blueprint because we must know the figures; we must know what we have. We cannot venture into what we cannot conclude; it is difficult because we don’t know ourselves; and up to this time, it is still paperwork.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“During the 2011 elections, there were crises in some states, properties were burnt but how do we address it? We set up a committee to take inventory of things; take data of people but by the time you want to do payment, the duplications will be so much; those who are affected will not get the money.”</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The President said with the inauguration of the new national ID card, Nigerians would begin to enjoy the benefits of government programmes as everyone would now have a unique national identification number from birth till death.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He commended the MasterCard Worldwide Corporation, Access Bank Plc and the NIMC for following all laid down procedures to bring to birth the new identity card.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jonathan said his administration would continue to strengthen institutions such as the NIMC, so that they would not go the way of the Nigeria Airways, Nigerian Shipping Line and Ajaokuta Steel Company.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To this end, he said the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had been directed to reposition the Nigerian Security and Minting Company to enable it to become a global player in the printing of security documents.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said, “In fact, when I appointed the new CBN governor, I told him that the Nigerian Security and Minting Company must be reformed.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“There is no way we are doing local government election, electing House of Assembly members, electing governors in Oyo, Ekiti and Adamawa states that all what we will produce will be done outside this country. Why?</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Other countries produce their needs; we claim to be a giant, a giant that will just send everything out; we empower others and we don’t create jobs for our people. And so, the Mint must be restructured as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission and other bodies.”</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 5px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also speaking, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, described the unveiling of the card as a significant milestone that would change the social safety programme of the government.</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

60% of fuel subsidy funds smuggled abroad –Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday lamented that a number of government programmes, which ough...

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