The Federal Government has described the\u00a0 report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force led by Nuhu Ribadu as shoddy with a large dose of unverified figures.<\/p>\n
Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, told newsmen that the Ribadu committee did not meet up on the terms of reference of its assignment, and that it is untidy for the committee to ask the government to verify figures it collated.<\/p>\n
Displaying a copy of the letter dated November 1, 2012 and addressed to the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, titled: \u201cSubmission of final report of the petroleum revenue special task force\u2019\u2019 and signed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Olasupo Shasore, Chairman and Secretary respectively, Okupe noted that Ribadu\u2019s claim in the letter that it concluded its assignment in accordance with the terms of reference given to it, was unfounded. \u201cIt was a job handled badly and only political and personal interests were bandied. It is most unfortunate. A cursory look at the report mischievously leaked to Reuters and other international media and the one submitted on November 2, 2012 to President Goodluck Jonathan shows some discrepancies.<\/p>\n
In the covering letter submitted by President Jonathan and signed by Mallam Ribadu and Shasore, the first paragraph reads: \u2018We have the pleasure of reporting the conclusion of the assignment given to the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRSTF) in accordance with its terms of reference as laid out at the inauguration of the task force. We enclose our final report of work done together with our key findings and recommendations.<\/p>\n
This statement is untrue as paragraph one of the terms of reference of the committee mandated it: To work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (tax royalties, etc) due and payable to Federal Government of Nigeria. Unfortunately and most regrettably, this paramount duty of the PRSTF committee could not be accomplished,\u2019\u2019 he said. Dr Okupe revealed that Ribadu admitted in the covering letter to his committee report that the data used in arriving at its report could not be independently verified and advised that the Federal Government should on its own conduct such necessary verifications and reconciliations. \u201cFrom the above, therefore, the committee failed to carry out a very critical part of its assignment and instead passed on the duty of reconciliation and verification of data to the government.<\/p>\n
The further implication of this, which is an obvious disclaimer issued by the committee on the report, makes it impossible under our laws to indict or punish anybody except, and until, the Federal Government fully verifies and reconciles the facts as recommended by the committee in its submission to the government\u2019\u2019, Okupe said. While he insisted that Ribadu committee\u2019s job was not thorough, Okupe assured Nigerians that it would issue a white paper on its report. \u201cThe commitment of President Jonathan in ordering a thorough investigation of the petroleum sector is genuines and cannot be faulted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government has described the\u00a0 report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force led by Nuhu Ribadu as shoddy with a large dose of unverified figures. Addressing newsmen yesterday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n