The Senate yesterday, passed the
supplementary appropriation bill of N161.6 billion, as payment for fuel subsidy
to oil marketers for 2012.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on Tuesday
sent a request to the National Assembly to approve the sum of N161.6 billion to
ensure steady supply of petroleum products during the festive season.

Senate President, Senator David Mark,
however, decried the high level of corruption being perpetrated under the fuel
subsidy scheme.

He urged the Federal Government to stop the
fuel subsidy if it was unable to stop the high level of corruption being
perpetrated under the scheme.

“It is not a secret anymore that there is so
much corruption in the fuel subsidy industry in whatever system they are
adopting. “The nation must make a decision now, whether to continue this or to
stop it. “The nation must make that decision sooner than later because we
cannot carry on this way. “If they can’t eliminate and stop the corruption in
the system, then, the other alternative will be to stop the whole exercise of
the fuel subsidy. “We must take the one that is easier and the one that will
bring less pain to Nigerians,” he said.

Mark commended the lawmakers for supporting
the quick passage of the supplementary appropriation, in the interest of the
masses.

He said the proposal should have been
forwarded in good time to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians.

“They should have anticipated that there was
going to be a shortfall when they first made this presentation at the beginning
of the year.

“That did not happen. We are now shouldered
with the responsibility of this additional approval.

“We have done so in the best interest of this
country,” Mark added.

The approval followed a motion by the Senate
Deputy Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi that the supplementary budget be given
accelerated passage “in view of the emergency nature of the bill”.

All the Senators expressed support for the
passage of the bill saying that it would alleviate the suffering of Nigerians,
ensure peace and stability of the nation.

Senator Smart Adeyemi faulted the national
economic team for the delay in the presentation of its request for additional
funds.

He, however, said: “As representatives of the
people, we have to support this request because it would improve the wellbeing
of the masses.”

In his contribution, Senator Ayogu Eze
(PDP-Enugu), hailed the Federal Government for acknowledging that there was
large scale corruption in the subsidy scheme.

He urged Nigerians to support the
government’s effort to address the graft in the oil subsidy regime, adding,
“It’s a challenge for Nigerians to decide whether to allow few individuals to
continue to feed fat on our commonwealth or to stop this process that
encourages corruption.”

Senator Ahmed Lawan (ANPP- Yobe), urged the
Senate to henceforth scrutinise government expenditure before the considering
requests for supplementary appropriation.

“We need to be very thorough and insist on
getting relevant information in good time before we do supplementary budgets.
“They talk about forensic audit but we have not seen the report. There is no
evidence to show that we require N161.6 billion. “I support the passage of this
bill for the sake of my people,” he said.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa (ACN- Lagos), appealed
to the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), to conclude investigation
into the management of the fuel subsidy.

“While I support this passage, I want this
Senate to ensure that investigation into the fuel subsidy is completed because
Nigerians need to know,” Ashafa stressed.

Senator Nkechi Nwaogu (PDP-Abia), blamed the
opposition political parties for protesting against government’s move to
totally remove the oil subsidy.

According to her, the corruption being
witnessed in the subsidy would have been nipped in the bud if the people have
supported the attempt to scrap the subsidy.

“It’s not the fault of the President, or is
it the fault of PDP but it’s the fault of the opposition parties which would
not allow the total removal of fuel subsidy.”