Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Raji Fasola (SAN) has decried the monumental corruption and waste in the NNPC, saying if the money realised from oil were judiciously used, those who died in the Tuesday inferno in Apapa and other part of the country wouldn’t have died.
The governor lambasted the Federal Government over its inability to develop a better transportation system for fuel transportation within the country while expressing great disturbance over the continuous loss of lives resulting from corruption and lack of vision to develop a better transportation system.
He said that in spite of the huge revenue made from oil, Nigeria is one of the few oil producing nations of the world still transporting fuel with trucks through the cities.
The governor made the statement after inspecting a number of ongoing projects which include Igbogbo Housing Estate, the ongoing rehabilitation of Awolowo Road in Ikorodu, among others.
He said: “It is really tragic. I just feel diminished by the fact that we lost lives again when they were avoidable. And everyone must take his own share of responsibility on this issue. Why in this age and time that we are still one of the few oil producing nations in the world still transporting fuel with trucks through the cities?
“It’s not rocket science about restoring the old rail tracks. If the rail is working as they say, then we should begin to use it to transport our petroleum products rather than use the roads. It will save the roads and fuel. And it will help us.
“The tanker owners can then buy wagons; it is the same mentality and philosophy.
He added: “When one look at the waste in the NNPC, now we are talking about the $45 billion that was missing. They seem to be quite satisfied to tell us that it was only $10 billion that was missing, that was a lot of money. One dollar of public money is a lot of money. “But later they told us that they spent the money actually. Now serious questions must be asked by the National Assembly, ICAN and Nigerians that who appropriated the money? Was it spent during the period that the CBN governor said that they didn’t account for the money or was it before? “And if there was appropriation for it, then we can now begin to seriously talk that were they the right places to spend the money?, he further queried.
The governor wondered that if the $10 billion missing had been used to try and build rail, evacuating fuel from Apapa and Tin Can Island, maybe those people wouldn’t have died.
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