Newspaper of the Year
...86 D AYS TO GO DA
•AND •Tinubu petitions NBC over AIT’s documentary MORE •Oyo APC rejects Accord’s claim on violence ON PAGES 4,5&8 •Appeal Court clears Jonathan to contest election •AIG urges Port police to check illegal arms importation
•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper
VOL. 10, NO. 3143 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015
TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
N150.00
Auditor-General queries N2.3tr Excess Crude Account deductions
Govt to pay oil marketers N185b to end fuel scarcity From Nduka Chiejina and Chioma Onyia, Abuja
T
F
UEL queues may soon disappear, with the government agreeing to meet marketers’ demands. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said yesterday that the costs incurred by the marketers, their fees as well as interest and Foreign Exchange (forex) differentials would be paid. To get the marketers, who have not been importing fuel to take it easy, a meeting between them and the minister has been scheduled for today. The minister said the government had packaged some iniContinued from page 4
•www.thenationonlineng.net
•Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala
HE 2012 Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF) report has questioned the deduction of N2,308,749,174,308.54 Excess Crude Oil/PPT/Royalty from oil and gas revenue before the balance was paid into the Federation Account. The query came on the heels of the inability of the Auditor General to obtain a legal authority for the creation of the
From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja
Excess Crude Oil/PPT/ Royalty Account. Of the total deductions, N477,448, 498,6 19.22 was drawn in favour of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and N377,264, 685, 789.54 in favour of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) got N1, 454,035, 989,899.78. House of Representatives Committee on Public Account (PAC), acting on the report on the account of the Federation of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December 2012, said the deductions were in contravention of section 162(1) of the 1999 Continued from page 4
•INSIDE: SHARE FRAUD VICTIMS FUND COMING P25 NIGERIA, OTHERS SEEK OPEC TALKS P25
Anti-Jega plot crashes as Presidency hits dead end Jonathan: no plan to change INEC boss Reps: Jega, polls schedule stay
SHAME OF A NATION
From Yusuf Alli, Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja
L
EGAL experts have told the Presidency the bitter truth about Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega — he cannot be sent on terminal leave. There are two reasons for the legal opinion. They are that: •no law or regulation compels political appointees to proceed on terminal leave; and •the timing is “inauspicious and not strategic”. Faced with the legal obstacle, the Presidency may have dumped the option of asking Jega to go on leave. Besides, President Goodluck Jonathan has said although he has the power to remove Jega, the INEC chief has not done anything to warrant his removal. A top government official yesterday said Jega will not be removed or asked to go on leave. But the comment of the supervising Minister of Information, Mr. Edem Duke, has caused disquiet in the cabinet. Some ministers believe that Duke’s “inexplicit response to questions on Jega’s fate” last Friday has been heating up the polity. WILL THE Duke said although the CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON President has no plan to sack Jega, ‘’this is not to say that, if APRIL 15, LAST
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YEAR EVER RETURN?
Continued from page 4
•People waiting to fill jerry cans with fuel at a filling station in Lagos...yesterday.
PHOTO: AFP
Naira devaluation caused fuel scarcity, says PPPRA •SEE
•APC: looting of $12b gas fund, subsidy debts are causes
PAGES 4&5
•POLITICS P56 •SPORTS P23 •MONEY P26 •INVESTORS P28 •LIFE P43 •FOREIGN P60