The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), has debunked report in a section of the media alleging that some of its officials are being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), describing it as “a figment of the imagination of the online journalist”.
It says, the Agency is not under any investigation whatsoever by the ICPC or any anti-corruption Agency for that matter, adding “The public is hereby assured that the allegations in the publications are completely false and a violation of the code of ethics of Journalism, which enjoins Journalists to refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information”.
According to a statement by the Agency’s Chief Public affairs Officer, Yusuf Mu’azu, it was “obvious from the style of this publication that it was a calculated attempt at rubbishing the current sanitization crusade the Agency is carrying out in the downstream sector.
“it is rather curious that the said online publication published a purported petition whose authorship is of doubtful identity. Of course, the said Ledisi Dagogo-Jack must exist only in the futile imagination of the journalist in question”.
“The mischief in this petition is further confirmed by the falsehood of the allegation that the ICPC had invited officials of PPPRA over the petition. Indeed, nothing could be farther from the truth as there is no such invitation arising from the phantom petition from ICPC”.
Mu’azu, stated that the PPPRA under the leadership of the Executive Secretary remains a responsible organization that is committed to enthroning transparency, accountability and international best practices in the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry.
He noted further that “In the last 2 years, the PPPRA Executive Secretary, Mr. Reginald Stanley, has embarked upon a number of far-reaching reform initiatives at the Agency. These measures have drastically transformed the Agency and its operations such that there is now greater transparency in the management of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF); drastic reduction in government expenditure on subsidy costs; improvement in compliance levels by Marketers to PPPRA’s guidelines, instructions and policies, greater reliability of data coming out of PPPRA; as well as stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the nation by ensuring product availability.
“The PPPRA has also been able to save a whopping sum of N409 billion in subsidy claims in 2012, achieved up to 67% reduction in the number of participants in the Subsidy Scheme (restriction to only downstream facilities owners since 2012); enhance the Nigerian Content Initiative of the Government, by encouraging indigenous participation through the ownership of downstream facilities and attracting investments in excess of 60 billion naira in the last 18 months”.
The Agency therefore, enjoined the public to continue to support its effort at “enthroning a transparent, accountable and effective supply and distribution system in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry”.
