Fuel subsidy scam: An associate told the president he was tired of making money – says former Bauchi Governor, Malam Yuguda

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Malam Isa Yuguda speaks on Channels television programme ‘Sunrise Daily’

By Anthony Maliki, Abuja

A former Governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda said an associate in the oil industry once told a Nigeria President they are tired of making money using the fuel subsidy.

He said, on a business trip to China, the associate had informed the President on the sidelines of a business meeting that fuel subsidy matter is a scam and tired of making huge sums out of it.

Malam Yuguda, a banker, who was a two-term Governor of Bauchi State from 2007-2015 made the remarks Monday when he featured on Channels Television programme, “Sunrise daily.”

According to him, the whole fuel subsidy matter is a scam and those involved should not go free but prosecuted.

The former Governor who headed a committee on the fuel subsidy regime in 2009 and is Chairman, Board of Trustees of APC Professionals Forum, a key think-tank of professionals in the ruling party, praised President Bola Tinubu for the political will to formally removed the fuel subsidy.

He stressed that past regimes didn’t have the political will to announced the formal removal of fuel subsidy for fear of those involved.

Malam Yuguda also noted that President Tinubu knows the challenge with the fuel subsidy regime and has the solution to tackle it.

He said demurrage on vessels on Nigeria high seas importing fuel amounts to over $150million per month and some ships stay for about three months pushing bills to Nigeria government.

The former Governor said a suggestion for the provision of barges to store fuel in the seas and later moved to the Atlas Cove in Lagos, was neglected.

On Nigeria refineries not working, he said this should not be as machines there are only supposed to oiled and work goes on.

He noted the monies voted for the Turn Around maintenance (TAM) goes into personal pockets as the refineries don’t have any issues. “The engines never stop, it is just to change the oil and the refineries go on,” he said.

Brief background of Malam Yuguda

Mallam Yuguda born on 15, June, 1956. He studied at the North East College of Arts & Science in Maiduguri, 1974-1976 and then at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from 1976-1979 graduating with a BSc in Economics. He obtained a master’s degree in Business Administration in 1998 at the University of Jos in Plateau State.

Yuguda started work at the Federal Mortgage Bank, Bauchi Area Office as a mortgage manager, 1981-1984.

He moved to the Savannah Bank working as a credit manager in Sokoto, 1986-1987 and then as a manager in Abuja, 1987-1991.

He moved to Inland Bank as acting general manager, 1991-1992 and then managing director and chief executive, 1992-1999. He was Managing Director and Chief Executive of NAL Merchant Bank, 1999-June, 2000. In June 2000, Yuguda was appointed Minister of State for Transport in the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was moved to the Ministry of Aviation, May 2003-June 2005.

In December 2003, visiting the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, he expressed concern at the delays in constructing the new terminal and threatened to cancel the contract.

In April 2007, Yuguda contested and won the gubernatorial race of Bauchi State on the platform of All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). He was sworn in on May 29, 2007. Yaguda was reelected governor on 28 April 2011.

He is at present the Chairman, Board of Trustees of APC Professionals Forum, a key think-tank of professionals in Nigeria’s ruling party