Why NNPC Officials Should Resign – Peter Obi
Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Obi, Wednesday, took a swipe at the top management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited) saying they ought to immediately resign.
Peter Obi was reacting to the recent viral videos revealing illegal pipelines connected to national oil pipeline.
The LP presidential candidate declared they ought to quit their jobs for incompetence or even colluding with oil thieves, insisting that corruption has become a big elephant in the room that must be evicted for the house to be properly deployed.
Peter Obi said that is exactly what he plans to do if elected Nigeria President, as he intends to take corruption headlong.
Speaking at the 52rd Annual Accountants ICAN Conference in Abuja on the theme ‘Accounting As A Requisite for Sustainable Governance’, Obi said, “It is no secret that corruption has been endemic and one of the biggest obstacles to our economic progress in Nigeria. Corruption is the big elephant in the room”
“In the past few days we have seen videos of illegal pipelines connected to national oil pipeline networks, running for kilometers… where billions of dollars that should have been used for development and welfare, have been illegally siphoned away, for up to nine years, according to reports.
“What I first expected was that the hierarchy of our top oil management bureaucracy will immediately resign, because without mincing words, this is irrefutable evidence of their incompetence, if not collaboration.
“My administration, when we come in, will tackle this corruption head on. We will have zero tolerance for corruption”, Obi vowed.
Apparently making reference to involvement of Accountants in corrupt practices in the country, Obi said, “If you look at the written financial regulations in any establishment, you will see watertight regulations of auditing, vetting, tendering, vouchering, joint signatories and other safeguards, designed to check embezzlement and corruption, yet these sharp practices and misappropriated sums continue to rise, and I understand that there is now a Nigerian record of almost N109 billion allegedly embezzled by an accountant.”
Peter Obi, therefore, ICAN to “increase the level of peer surveillance and internal discipline among urged your ranks, if we cannot properly account for our finances, the country is finished, let us as accountants, do more to check and stop corruption.”
He noted that accounting inevitable in ensuring sustainable governance and a stabilising factor in development, saying that proper accounting serves as checks on the activities of the three arms of government as well as the three tiers of government.
He added that “to ensure sustainability and resilience, we will stop borrowing for consumption. All loans must be invested in regenerative projects.
“We shall pursue a drastic reduction in cost of governance and corruption; improve ease of doing business to attract Foreign Direct Investment to jumpstart industrialisation and when borrowing is unavoidable, it will be strictly for production”, he said.
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