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Nigeria to impose controls on oil finances - Obasanjo Tue February 15, 2005 4:12 PM GMT+02:00 ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's state energy company has resisted government attempts to audit its spending, but will now have to comply with anti-corruption controls, President Olusegun Obasanjo said in comments published on Tuesday. Obasanjo created a due process unit in the presidency three years ago to reduce fraud and cost inflation in government procurement contracts, but state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) had escaped its remit until now. "NNPC has always fought due process, but I have given them an order to obey. No aspect of government transaction, no aspect of government business will escape," Obasanjo was quoted as saying at the opening of a conference on Monday in Tuesday's edition of ThisDay newspaper. Nigeria is the world's eighth largest oil exporter and NNPC controls about half of its 2.3 million barrels per day output, worth a total of $30 billion annually. The government's economic cabinet, which is driving a high-profile anti-corruption campaign as part of wider economic reforms, has been trying unsuccessfully to audit the nation's oil revenues since last year. In April 2004, the head of the due process unit promised an audit of oil revenues by August that year. It has yet to appear. Obasanjo's critics say his government is only half-hearted about cracking down on graft in Nigeria, ranked as the third most corrupt nation in the world by sleaze watchdog Transparency International. The head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said in December that 40 percent of the country's revenues were still lost to waste and corruption. Industry officials estimate about 100,000 barrels per day, or five percent of total oil output, is stolen by international criminal syndicates with connections to government. Before a major reshuffle in NNPC in 2003, Obasanjo criticised executives for deliberately sabotaging its refineries to benefit from lucrative fuel import contracts. Last year, NNPC fired seven executives after a probe found they had defrauded the country of hundreds of millions of dollars over several years by falsifying shipping documents. No one has been formally charged. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
