A former governor of Bauchi State, and former minister of Aviation, Isa Yuguda has again echoed that the monies being paid as subsidy on fuel products in Nigeria was a scam.
He stated that a few people were siphoning the financial resources of the country at the detriment of the masses.
He spoke on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He explained that the perpetrators of the subsidy scam had made so much money from Nigeria, and had brought the nation to its knees financially.
He narrated an incident when a friend of his had highlighted the kind of money made from the scam.
“I remember a friend of mine in the oil industry, who during a meeting of an economic think tank. He called the then president aside and said, ‘Mr President please stop this subsidy, we are tired of making money’”.
Yuguda, however did not name the friend or the president involved.
He also noted that “We’re bringing in this fuel at an elevated cost and half of it is exported out of Nigeria by the same people collecting money for it.
“Subsidy was claimed on pipelines that never existed. Invoice is created and NNPC just pays”
He noted that there is no reason why the refineries in the country are not functional despite the billions of naira spent on them every year.
The former governor also called for the prosecution of those involved in the subsidy scam, noting that since 2009, a committee he headed had uncovered the scam and drawn government’s attention to it, and that the scam has grown over time.
“The records are all there, and there is no time limit to investigate this people. If government has the political will these individuals can be held to account”, he said.
He also said the former President Muhammadu Buhari must have known of the subsidy scam since he was the president and minister of petroleum.