The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a civil rights advocacy group, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign his position as the country’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, over the government’s disclosure that about $3.27bn worth of oil had been lost to theft in the last 14 months.
The advocacy group in a statement on Sunday issued by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the disclosure by the government was not only useless but was of no benefit to Nigerians at a time the citizens are experiencing an excruciating fuel scarcity.
HURIWA noted that the “government, having indicted itself with the revelation, should speedily ensure that the economic saboteurs, in government and outside government, were named, shamed and prosecuted for deterrence purpose.”
“How can Nigerians be in the midst of plenty and still suffer incurable and perpetual scarcity because of the leadership failure of some people?
“The President should resign as Petroleum Minister, having demonstrated gargantuan incompetence,” HURIWA said in the statement.
The group also said the outrageous amount lost to oil thieves amid fuel scarcity for about two months in the first quarter of 2022 showed the obvious failure of Buhari who should quickly quit as Minister of Petroleum Resources.
It is alarming, incredulous and ridiculous that the Federal Government waited this long to make this useless and needless disclosure that about $3.27bn has been lost to crude oil theft in the last 14 months.
“What does the government want Nigerians to do with the information or does the government think it is a good thing that it is directly in charge of crude resources and ‘thieves’ are having a field day?
“This is a direct indictment on the Federal Government, an indictment on the President who is also the Petroleum Minister and a direct indictment on the petroleum managers in government as well as security agencies.
“The government has the legal obligation to arrest these thieves. And this must be done in earnest. Anything aside from this is a charade of the so-called anti-corruption crusade of the federal government as the protector of a thief is a thief too.”