By Comfort Olayinka
A group, under the auspices of the Young Professionals Forum of Nigeria has urged the federal government to immediately suspend the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPR, Farouk Ahmed, over alleged financial scandal.
The group, through its co-ordinator, Felicia E. Daniels, made the call on Monday at the headquarters of the NMDPRA in Abuja, saying Ahmed’s tenure has been stained by grave and substantiated allegations of corruption, abuse of power, regulatory compromise and a total betrayal of the Nigerian people.
According to the group, Ahmed was entrusted with the leadership of a strategic agency created under the Petroleum Industry Act, stressing that NMDPRA was meant to be the reform flagship in Nigeria’s petroleum industry; an institution meant to foster transparency, enforce regulatory integrity, and protect the long-abused interests of Nigerian citizens in the midstream and downstream oil sectors.
The protesting group emphatically hinted on the alleged diversion of over five million dollar ($5m) by Ahmed, with which four of his children are currently being sponsored in expensive foreign schools with other luxurious lifestyle.
“Engr. Ahmed is at the centre of a massive financial scandal involving the alleged diversion of over $5 million in public funds to bankroll the luxurious foreign education of his children. While millions of Nigerians cannot afford to send their children to basic public schools; while university students in Nigeria face strikes, dilapidated hostels, and unpaid lecturers; one public servant is alleged to have spent our commonwealth to secure elite education for his family in Switzerland and India.
“His four children — Faisal, Farouk Jr., Ashraf, and Farhana, were enrolled in some of the most expensive schools in the world. Institutions with fees that range from $80,000 to $140,000 per year. Schools that only royalty and billionaires can afford. Schools that are as far removed from the average Nigerian reality as the moon is from the Earth. Schools like Aiglon College, Institut Le Rosey, European University Montreux, and La Garenne International School. In all, over $5 million is alleged to have been spent over the years on tuition, accommodation, upkeep, and flights. These payments were routed through undisclosed accounts, proxy relatives, and unreported assets — none of which appeared in Mr. Ahmed’s mandatory asset declaration forms.
“This is not just unethical. It is potentially criminal. The law is clear. Public officials must declare all assets. Public officials must not benefit from any advantage that compromises their impartiality. Public officials must not divert public funds or use the privileges of office to enrich themselves or their families. And yet, here we are, faced with overwhelming evidence that points to exactly that.
“We are also aware that Mr. Ahmed’s son, Faisal, was recruited into Oando PLC — a company directly under the regulatory jurisdiction of the NMDPRA. This is a clear conflict of interest. Oando is a regulated entity. Engr. Ahmed is the regulator. His son has no business working in a company whose regulatory fate lies in his father’s hands. The circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that this employment was not accidental. It was likely facilitated by undue influence. This is not acceptable. This is not excusable. This is not defensible”, Daniel said.
Speaking further, the group alluded that, under Ahmed’s leadership, NMDPRA issued permits for the importation of diesel with sulphur content as high as 2,000 parts per million; forty times the standard recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme and enforced by most African nations.
“This is poison. It is toxic to our lungs. It is toxic to our environment. It is a death sentence for urban dwellers inhailing polluted fumes every single day. And still, no sanctions were issued. No fuel importer was held accountable. No company was blacklisted.
“What this tells us is that the regulator has become an enabler. That the agency tasked with defending Nigerian lives is instead protecting vested interests. That the head of the NMDPRA is no longer working for Nigeria — he is working for himself, his family, and a small group of connected fuel traders.
“He has become a symbol of the very rot the Petroleum Industry Act was designed to cure. His continued presence in office is a threat to reform. A threat to transparency. A threat to every effort to clean up the Nigerian oil and gas sector. His name is now synonymous with allegations of embezzlement, regulatory compromise, and abuse of office.
“We say this to Mr. Ahmed directly: you may still have the title, but you have lost the moral mandate. If you believe in integrity, you should resign today. If you believe in justice, you should subject yourself to investigation. If you believe in Nigeria, you should step aside and allow the truth to come out.
“But if you do not resign, then we, the Nigerian people, must make it clear: we will not accept your continued stay. We will not allow the NMDPRA to become a haven for elite impunity. We will not let this matter die in silence,” the group added.
