When in late 2013, Lamido Sanusi, then Central Bank governor wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan  asserting that about $20 billion was not accounted for by NNPC, many Nigerians dismissed the claim with a wave of the hand. The Federal Government, incensed by the claim, appointed an audit firm to carry out a forensic audit of NNPC account.

The report has passed a verdict that no money was actually missing. In fact, an audit report will always come out with the fact that no money is missing. Many still do not understand the basis on which Sanusi and in more recent time, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Sanusi’s predecessor, accused the NNPC of billions of dollars leakage from the federation account.

In real terms, these figures are not found in any books nor can they be found lodged in any account. They are equally not imaginary figures. They are broad estimates of what the nation has lost as a result of the use of discretionary powers by the powers that have held the nation hostage for years.

For years now, stealing of oil from pipelines has been rampant and quantifying the amount surely is in the region of billions of dollars. But each time, the government pleads helplessness. How can a nation’s major source of revenue be allowed to be under the control of known thieves? Yet, a country that has a viable navy came out to tell the world that rogues are stealing oil. Are these thieves ghosts, and the vessels they use both invisible and invincible?

Read More: Vanguard