Lawan: I will be disappointed if Jonathan shuns subsidy report

Rep. Faruk Mohammed
Lawan (PDP, Kano) is the
chairman of the House of
Representatives ad hoc
committee which investigated
the management of the
petroleum subsidy regime. The
report has made startling
revelations and indicted many
top past and present
government officials.
The committee held series of
public hearings in January and
February this year during which
many mind boggling discoveries
were made. The probe was
instituted on January 8, 2012
following removal of fuel
subsidies by the federal
government on 1st January
which led to nationwide strike
and street protest which
brought governance to its
knees.
The report was presented to
the House, debated, considered
and resolutions passed in a
session that is intriguing.
However, the committee
members alleged they had to
struggle with so many
pressures, threats, intimidation
and even blackmail sometimes
from unexpected quarters
before they were able to write
and submit the 205-page report
with its 62 recommendations.
When Weekly Trust had a brief
encounter with the lawmaker
yesterday, he said the members
of the committee were under a
lot pressure right from the
onset because of the interest
involved in their investigation. “In
the
first week of the public
hearing most of the marketers
thought it was the usual kind of
hearing where they could simply
come down to Abuja and reach
out to people, give them money
and that will be the end of it.
“That was why the initial
response in the first one week
was a bit lukewarm, especially
from the key owners of the
various oil companies. But when
they realised that was not going
to work, they now had to
respond and some others even
decided not to appear, believing
that it is still business as usual
and nothing will ever happen,”
he said.
But when that didn’t work,
Lawan said, “those people in
government in the relevant
agencies and the marketers who
are linked to top level politicians,
governors, member of the
National Assembly, ministers and
members of the executive and
even the various political parties
also tried to leverage on that
equally by exerting pressure on
the members of the committee.”
When asked if the committee
caved in to pressure, the
lawmaker said from the outcome
of the report it is very clear
that we didn’t and it won’t
work. While that was happening
they were also employing every
kind of tactics, blackmail and
threatening our life.”
“We wouldn’t have had the
courage to do the kind of things
we did which Nigerians are all
appreciative of if we
compromised. The House also
needs to be commended for the
adoption of the report. The
pressure now should be with the
executive to ensure that the
right thing is done.”
The Kano-born lawmaker said he
is absolutely satisfied with the
work they did which was to the
best of their ability.
But what if the
recommendations of the
committee didn’t get to see the
light of the day? “I will be
absolutely disappointed (if the
recommendations are not
implemented) given the
sacrifices, sleeping in the office
for weeks, all what we went
through. Obviously, we will be
very disappointed for that
report not to be implemented. I
think it will be a disservice to
this country.”
What will you tell Mr. President if
you see him? “I will ask him to as
quickly as possible implement
those aspects that need to be
implemented and refer those
aspects to the relevant anti-
corruption agencies that need
to be further investigated, and I
will ask him to simply carry out
the various institutional changes
that this report has requested
for as a way of instilling
confidence in Nigerians and
reforming that sector so that it
can now be in a better position
to more transparently discharge
its responsibilities in a more
accountable and open manner.”

Source: Daily Trust Newspaper