The Chief Economist of Afenifere, Segun Sanni, has suggested that the government should probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) just the way Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was investigated.

He said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, adding that if the NNPCL is investigated for the oil Nigeria is losing, the country will be able to track where its money is going.

“What I will suggest is that the same way we investigated CBN, the NNPC needs to be investigated,” Sanni said.

“I believe that if we investigate the NNPC for the oil we were losing – about a million barrel of oil per day for about two years or there about, where did that money go to and all the corruption that attended the subside regime? We can make some good recovery on that.”

He accused the NNPCL of being the most corrupt and inefficient organisation in the world, explaining that the company does not own Nigeria’s oil, but only trade it for Nigeria and collect the money.

Sanni lamented that the nation’s debt multiplied by 10 between 2015 due to the expenses of NNPCL.

He added that the price of petrol is attached to a lot of economic indices and trends in Nigeria and that people cannot afford to buy petrol which is affecting the economy.

He also hinted that things are hard in Nigeria and with the new fuel price, things will get harder because fuel prices are connected to all the other pricing in Nigeria.

The economist stated that the government has found themselves in a situation where they are spending 75% to 80% of everything they earn on debt servicing, suggesting that the government needs to look at how they can make more money from the solid mineral sector.

Sanni added that the government need to sit down and begin to think of how they can spend the little money that we have judiciously.

He also advised that the government cut costs, adding “that government that is spending lavishly and living large cannot in all conscience tell Nigerians. (Channels TV)