Oil Industry Rot: FG May Dump Ribadu Report

ribadu_reportStrong indications emerged on Monday that the Federal Government might dump the report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task force headed by ex-boss of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu in the dust bin.

Three months after the Ribadu panel submitted its report on November 2, 2012, the highly anticipated White Paper that would make the recommendations contained in the document workable has not been released.

Right from when the report was submitted, the body signs of the Federal Government indicated a lack of interest in the report; the content of which was hailed by many analysts at the time of its presentation.

A top government source who did not want to be named, on Monday said that the Federal Government considered the Ribadu report as “not comfortable” and that most of its “embarrassing” recommendations would be absent whenever the Wogu committee submits its report.

The source added, “Right from the outset, government displayed nonchalant attitude to the report. As things are, there are moves to either kill the report or turn down many of its recommendations.

“It seems the government believes what some people are saying that the committee did not sit enough though we know this is not true.”

However, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe on Monday denied that the Federal Government planned to kill or “sit on the report.”

He said, “We just came back from the New Year break and I’m sure the committee is busy with the reports. The committee was given just three weeks to work?

“I’m sure that the report will be published very soon. There is nothing to sit on in the report. There is nothing absolutely to sit on. If there is any problem, it is strictly administrative.”