CIFCFIN to FG: Take decisive action against cabals in oil, gas sector

The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) says the federal government must take decisive action to root out the cabals in the oil and gas sector. 

The group spoke on Wednesday in a statement signed by Iliyasu Gashinbaki, CIFCFIN’s founder and chairman, to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day anniversary.

Gashinbaki said the association’s forensic analysis revealed how cabals operate through proxy sector institutions.

He listed the institutions to include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

He said cabals operating through unions such as the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) also created formidable bottlenecks that fuelled scarcity and import dependency.

To break the vicious cycle, Gashinbaki said the federal government must implement a four-pronged approach.

“One, invoke all legal instruments, including the Petroleum Industry Act, to treat these obstructive actions as economic sabotage,” he said.

“Two, assert executive authority against any group holding our economy to ransom and harming public trust in government’s performance.

“Three, designate strategic national assets like the Dangote Refinery as critical infrastructure deserving maximum protection and finally, encourage other big private sector players to invest in the oil and gas industry in order to create greater competitiveness within the oil and gas sector as already seen in the successes of the telecommunication sector.”

The institute’s forensic investigations, he said, confirm Nigeria holds vast reserves of over 37 billion barrels of oil and 208 trillion cubic feet of gas, which are “capable of powering our nation, industrializing our economy, and securing prosperity for generations”.

However, Gashinbaki said the country’s domestic refining history reflects a pattern of persistent failure.

“The Kaduna Refinery, Warri Refinery, and Port Harcourt Refineries I and II now stand as failed monuments, forcing us to export crude oil while importing expensive refined products in a paradoxical economic arrangement that has consistently drained our national wealth,” he added.

This, the CIFCFIN founder said, is why the institute supports the Dangote refinery, which was recently involved in a standoff with PENGASSAN, with a strike averted through federal government intervention.

“The Dangote Petroleum Refinery with the capacity of refining 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily represents a transformative breakthrough, demonstrating what private enterprise can achieve where public institutions have consistently failed,” he said.

“This world-class facility promised not only to meet domestic fuel needs but to position Nigeria as a net exporter – a beacon of hope for millions of Nigerians seeking to break the chains of our resource curse.”

Gashinbaki said Nigeria at 65 cannot allow vested interests to continue holding “our prosperity hostage”.

He added that the country must collectively defend the promise of private sector “led energy independence and finally declare our freedom from the cabals that have undermined our national progress for too long”.