Alleged fuel subsidy scam: FG pays 2.7BILLION NAIRA to an unregistered company!

Another can of worms appears to have been opened in the management of oil subsidy as it emerged, at the weekend, that the Federal Government had paid the sum of N2.7 billion to an unregistered company.

The company given as Pinnacle Contractors Limited, got a total of N2.7 billion from the oil subsidy funds without supplying any litre of fuel and also without registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Searches at the CAC indicated only Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited, with Registration number RC. 8740, while no trace could be found of Pinnacle Contractors.

A search conducted on September 18 showed that only Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited is registered on the CAC system.

The Federal Government had, in August, announced that Pinnacle Contractors Limited was one of the 25 companies that mismanaged different sums of the subsidy funds.

Details from the Ministry of Finance had showed that Pinnacle Contractors Limited got N1.2 billion for alleged importation of fuel into Nigeria, when the vessels said to have supplied the fuel was not at the location where it could actually do so.

The company also got another N1.5 billion for supplying fuel through a vessel that was no longer in operations at the time of the supply.

It was gathered from officials of CAC that Pinnacle Contractors Limited could not have been registered since Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited had already been registered on the CAC website.

Searches on the CAC system indicated that Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited was registered on September 18, 1981 with registration number RC. 8740. Its registered office is given as 12, Iwehen Street, Benin City, Edo State.

The directors are given as Samuel Okhorutomwen Uwadie and Samuel Omorodion Iwadie.

According to the data at the CAC, the company is registered as importers, exporters, manufacturers’ representatives, as well as sellers and distributors of general goods.


By: Taiwo Adisa/Nigerian Tribune