Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) ex-boss, Mrs. Adefunke Kasali yesterday said the agency saved more than $2billion through Project Aquila. Project Aquila is a high-tech electronic loading and delivery system introduced by PEF to check leakages in the system, as well as enthrone transparency and due process. Speaking in Abuja while handing over to the new Executive Secretary, Mr. Asabe Ahmed, Kasali said PEF has been able to check fraudulent activities among petroleum marketers and ensured transparency in the system through the project. “The new initiative, also known as ‘e-loading’ ensures the delivery of petroleum products to the right destination," she also stated. "The process has checkmated the annual loss of N15 billion to the activities of some unscrupulous petroleum tanker drivers who engaged in some unethical activities such as diversion of petroleum products.” As stated by her, the agency had taken a bold step to eliminate corruption and ensure prompt payment of bridging cost through Project Aquila. She stated that through the initiative, PEF had detected and stopped payment of more than N847million in fictitious claims by petroleum marketers. Kasali said the project had also been able to remove encumbrances that normally caused distortions in the supply chain such as the issue of prompt payment of bridging claims. “Just look at the way we designed the business. We saved $2billion upfront because we wrote the codes in-house and how about all the 10s of billions we have saved by people that used to claim them. “There was a time when we stopped N847 million worth of fake ticket and all the ones we have been saving ever since,” she stated. Kasali also refuted claims that the board was underpaying some marketers or delaying their payment, saying the PEFMB had been consistent in paying the right claims due to marketers. She said his was in accordance with their capacity as approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). “Those who are complaining are those that the robust Project Aquila has blocked their old ways of “milking” the system and are uncomfortable with the new measures imposed to check past abuses," she stated. “If any marketer said he was not paid, it means we could not confirm that they were loaded so if somebody said his claim has been stocked, it means that they were not loaded.” The new Executive Secretary, Mrs Asabe Ahmed lauded the achievement of Kasali saying, “I can see a team of highly motivated professionals and the efficiency I have seen in the system is due to all of you. I have come to carry on from where she has left off.”
