The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Haruna Momoh

  • Oil swap deals: Reps to take action against Diezani, Momoh 

    Oil swap deals: Reps to take action against Diezani, Momoh 

    The House of Representatives has reinstated its readiness to take “appropriate action” against the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison Maduekwe and a former Managing Director (MD) of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Haruna Momoh.

    The appropriate action was not however stated by the Zakari Mohammed-led ad hoc Committee investigating crude oil for refined products exchange arrangement (oil swap) between 2010 and 2014.

    The decision of the Committee followed the failure of the two former public officers to appear before it Wednesday despite official notice to that effect.

    Alison Maduekwe neither sent a representative nor a written submission explaining her reasons for her absence at the hearing.

    Momoh, on the other hand sent his younger brother, Suleman Momoh, who said his brother was indisposed.

    “I’m here to represent my brother; he could not be here because he is indisposed. He sent me to submit his presentation and supporting documents to the Committee,” he said.

    Zakari, at the on-going investigation yesterday regretted that the two turned down the invitation of the Committee.

    “It is unfortunate that they turned down our invitation. Anyone who knows them should tell them they are daring the parliament.

    “We have taken note and we are going to take appropriate action,” he said.

    The younger Momoh was asked to inform the former MD that he must appear before the Committee to state his case personally.

    The Committee has however condemned the failure of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to carry out its statutory responsibility of inspecting all cargoes coming into the country.

    The Committee said the development could be manipulated by unscrupulous elements to import destructive materials and equipment into the country at a time he country is facing security challenges.

    Anthony Ayalogu, NCS’s Assistant Comptroller (Trade and Tariff) said Customs officers can only ascertain the presence of oil vessels at the ports but cannot vouch for the content of the vessel as a result of the 2008 directives.

    He said until otherwise reversed, the NCS cannot inspect in-coming oil vessels.

    The Committee therefore summoned the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance that issued the 2008 memoranda baring the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) from inspecting incoming oil cargoes.

    It was also disclosed that a non-resident trading company Trafigura, involved the oil swap arrangement is owing the Federal government $642,536,470 in tax.

    Olayemi Ajayi, Director, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) during his presentation also said Duke Oil, owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owed $4.7m as tax on imported petroleum products under the crude oil swap for products between 2010 and 2014.

    The two were involved in oil swap arrangement totaling $24b between the period under review.

    Though absent at the hearing Wednesday, Trafigura has always maintained that being a non-resident company, it is not liable to pay tax to Nigerian government.

    It was this position that informed the Committee’s decision requesting FIRS’s clarification on Trafigura’s status.

  • FG loses N376.6b to vandalism in 6 years

    FG loses N376.6b to vandalism in 6 years

    •Targets 6250MW generation

    THE federal government said it lost over N376.6 billion in six years (2008 – 2013) to vandalism of oil and gas pipelines by crude and product thieves.

    The Managing Director, Products and Pipeline Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Prince Haruna Momoh, disclosed this during a capacity building workshop for media practitioners in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

    Momoh, who was represented by the company’s Executive Director, Commercial, Mr. Frank Amego, said that incidents on the company’s pipelines caused by vandals rose from over 400 in 1999 to 3571 by end of 2013, while adding that the activities of vandals has been very difficult to stem.

    In his analysis of the implication of the revenue losses, the Group Coordinator, Corporate Planning and Strategy of NNPC, Dr. Timothy Okon, described the act as economic sabotage, adding that the amount would have been enough for annual budget allocations for Akwa Ibom and Borno States.

    The cost of securing and maintaining the pipelines, he noted, has no budgetary allocation but unknown to so many Nigerians, NNPC incurs the expenses. “We are required to provide services but there are no provisions or mechanism for the cost we incur to be addressed,” he said.

    While urging the saboteurs to desist from their act, Okon stressed such incidents does not augur well for a country that aspires to be among the 20 largest economies of the world by 2020.

    He said: “If you vandalise gas pipeline, it is not as if you can just put a jerry can and take it, so vandalisation of gas pipeline is pure sabotage.”

    The Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, NNPC, Dr David Ige, who was represented by the Manager, Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline, Engr. Alfred Amadi, in his presentation, disagreed with the claim of the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, that low price is responsible for the shortage of gas to power.

    Ige said that it takes an average of five years to complete a 100-kilometre pipeline project, adding that meeting the pipeline infrastructure need may not be achieved in the short term.

     

  • Reps reactivate probe of N10bn Chartered jets

    Reps reactivate probe of N10bn Chartered jets

    •Summon PPMC MD

    In spite of the court case instituted against the House of Representatives by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke to stop the House Committee on Public Accounts from probing the alleged N10 billion expenses on Chartered jets, the committee seems to be forging ahead with the investigation.

    To this end, the Committee on Public Accounts has summoned the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and its Managing Director, Mr Haruna Momoh to appear before it.

    This aligns with the  declaration of the Speaker the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal that the probe is not dead.

    The House  suspended the investigation earlier meant to commence on April 28  before of the subsisting case in court.

    In a memo dated April 30  by the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee,Honourable Solomon Adeola Olamilekan and addressed to the Managing Director of the PPMC the committee gave the organization and its boss a week to submit in a written form all what they knew about the charter of the 850 Challenger Aircraft.

    The committee said it was issuing the memo because of new information from Vistaget international Limited, one of the companies involved in the transactions.

    The memo reads: “It was observed that you and PPMC played a Central role in the charter of the 850 challenger Aircraft,you are therefore requested to submit a memorandum on your involvement and that of the PPMC in the said transaction.”

    The committee in the memo requested for the following:

    “Details of the Financial transaction on the amount paid by NNPC/PPMC to Vistajel international Ltd for the Charter and maintenance of the 850 Challenger Aircrafts and other related Aircrafts such as the OE-LXR GLOBAL EXPRESS XRS from January 2012 till date.

    “Details of any Financial liabilities that may be currently outstanding on the Charter and maintenance of the 850 Challenger Aircraft and other related Aircrafts used by the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources,Mrs Allison-Madueke for both national and international trips.

    “Copies of the agreement (if any) between NNPC/PPMC and Vistajet International LtD over the Charter and maintenance of the 850 Challenger Aircrafts 0E-LXR GLOBAL EXPRESS XRS and other related aircrafts by the Minister.

    “The manifest in the custody of the Committee revealed that you have always been in the Company of the Minister while on international trips on board the said aircraft, you are therefore required to furnish details and particulars of trips (with the Minister) embarked upon by yourself with the Minister and the justification for such trips.”

  • An elitist sermon

    An elitist sermon

    The NNPC GMD’s call to use gas instead of kerosene  sounds like what triggered the French Revolution

    The wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, wondered why the protesters on the streets of Paris clamoured for bread when they could have cake. It infuriated them, and led to a rabble that torched the city and the French monarchy.

    Similar language came from the leadership of Nigerian oil. We know that there are advantages in switching from kerosene to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). These include the provision of a cleaner and safer fuel option, especially for lower income households, reduction of indoor air pollution that causes significant health problems and a decline in carbon emissions caused by dirty fuels; but the decision of which to use should be for the consumers to make. It should not be imposed on them in a manner akin to the ‘if you can’t find bread, eat cake’ fashion. That is why it is not a befitting sermon from the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Andrew Yakubu, and the chief executive of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Haruna Momoh, two people who are critical to making kerosene available in the country but have failed to do, to ask Nigerians to switch from kerosene to LPG.

    Messrs Yakubu and Momoh, while testifying before members of the Dakuku Peteside-led House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (downstream) investigating supply, distribution and subsidy expenditure on kerosene from 2010 – 2013, said the solution to the lingering kerosene scarcity lies in switching over to LPG because this will reduce pressure on kerosene and ultimately lead to a drop in the demand for it. This excuse is full of the usual trappings of public officials who rather than be pragmatic about solutions to our problems sniff for excuses for the easy way out.

    The duo failed to take cognisance of the fact that cooking gas is costly and is beyond the reach of many Nigerians. One reason for this is the absence of a clear-cut policy to drive LPG consumption by the Federal Government. The fact is that deliberate government policies account significantly for the much progress made in countries like Brazil and Morocco, where LPG consumption is high. There is also the fear of gas in our society that would make people prefer kerosene that they perceive as safer and easier to handle. So, unlike Brazil and Morocco, the Federal Government will have to work harder to convince Nigerians to use gas.

    There was nothing new in whatever the duo told the House of Representatives committee members, either from the point of view of economics, or environmental safety. But what they failed to add is that even their own recommendation will come to naught if the same business paradigm they are using in the NNPC, for instance, is transferred to the process of producing the LPG. It is scandalous that Nigeria, a major producer of crude oil imports the bulk of the fuel that is used in the country. And there are reasons for these, including corruption and governmental ineptitude. For these reasons, it will only be a matter of time for the same problems leading to scarcity of kerosene to afflict the production of LPG. This is one ‘Nigerian factor’ that Messrs Yakubu and Momoh, as well as many others who have been making a case for LPG for domestic use in the country appear to be overlooking. If we promote LPG for domestic use, which is the ideal thing to do, a time will come when more Nigerians will demand for it and the question of meeting the demand will surface.

    This is why we think the prescription of the duo is symptomatic of the typical Nigerian public official’s penchant to sidetrack rather than solve problems. Rather than tell Nigerians why kerosene remains scarce, which was the essence of their appearance before the House committee in the first place, they launched into the issue of LPG as solution to the scarcity. How does that explain why kerosene remains scarce despite the humongous amount the government pays as subsidy on the product? Yakubu himself admitted that about N8.49 billion was expended to subsidise a total of 5,015.413.022.06 trillion litres of kerosene in 19 months! So, why is the product still scarce?

    We know as a matter of fact that petroleum products are being smuggled out to neighbouring countries. We are also aware that the activities of pipeline vandals, the state of disrepair of pipelines and depots in the country, and the activities of unscrupulous elements who adulterate kerosene to sell it as automatic gas oil often referred to as diesel, all contribute to the scarcity of the product. All these are issues the government should tackle because they are the reasons why government exists in the first place. For as long as these issues are unresolved, it is immaterial whether Nigerians use kerosene or LPG, there will always be scarcity at some point.

    So, we restate: if cooking gas must be substituted for kerosene, it should be by choice and a deliberate policy on the part of government; it does not lie in the mouths of those who should make kerosene available and have failed in that responsibility to seek to impose gas on Nigerians. That looks to us a subterfuge to cover their shortcomings and the general ineptitude in the country. It is cynicism taken too far.

  • Kidnap suspect Kelvin, two others arraigned

    Kidnap suspect Kelvin, two others arraigned

    •Accused of complicity in abduction of Nwike, Eghagha, Ozekhome, others

    Three men, believed to be involved in the kidnap of Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, rights activist Mike Ozekhome (SAN), former Anambra State deputy governor, Dr. Chudi Nwike and many others were arraigned yesterday in Abuja before a magistrate’s court in Wuse Zone Two.

    The men, Kelvin Eziegbe, Frank Azuekoh and Haruna Momoh, were accused of being behind some highly coordinated kidnappings in the Southsouth, extending to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    Nwike, who was reportedly kidnapped in March, was found dead some days later in a community close to Agbor, Delta State, by security agents.

    Kelvin had, before his arrest, engaged in an open show of might when, in company of some masked members of his gang, addressed reporters and had their pictures taken in Kokori, a community in Delta State.

    They were brought to court by stern-looking armed security personnel.

    The three men, who looked blank, were taken before Magistrate Usman Ahmed Shuaibu, where a First Information Report (FIR), prepared by the Department of State Services (DSS), dated October 28, 2013 but filed on October 29, was read to them.

    They were also accused of ambushing and attacking a prison vehicle conveying arrested members of the group.

    They pleaded not guilty.

    The FIR read: “That between February 2, 2012 and September 24, 2013 at Kokori, Asaba, Warri, Port Harcourt and Benin City, in Delta, Rivers and Edo states and along Benin-Abuja Road, Abuja FCT, you Kelvin Eziegbe, Frank Azuekoh and Haruna Momoh conspired with Rufus Ovwigho, Ese Oghenerojakor and others now at large to kidnap for ransom the persons of Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Dr. Chudi Nwike, Hope Eghagha (Prof.) and many others.

    “That you did ambush and attack a Federal Prisons vehicle conveying members of your criminal gang, which resulted in the death of some police and prisons officers.”

     

  • Kidnap kingpin Kelvin, two others arraigned

    Kidnap kingpin Kelvin, two others arraigned

    Three men, believed to be involved in the kidnap of Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, rights activist, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), former Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dr. Chudi Nwike and many others, were arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Wuse Zone Two, Abuja, on Tuesday.

    The trio- Kelvin Ibruvwe (a suspected lead-kidnapper), Frank Azuekoh and Haruna Momoh – were accused of being behind some highly coordinated kidnapping activities in the South-south region of the country and Abuja.

    Nwike, who was reportedly kidnapped in early March this year, was recovered dead few days later in a community close to Agbor, Delta State, by security agents.

    The suspects were brought to court by stern-looking and heavily armed security personnel.

    Prior to their arrival, major entrances to the court premises, located within a residential estate, were secured by armed security personnel.

    The suspects, who looked blank, were promptly taken before Magistrate Usman Ahmed Shuaibu, where a First Information Report (FIR), prepared by the Department of State Services (DSS), dated October 28 but filed October 29 was read to them.

    They were also accused, in the FIR, of ambushing and attacking a prison vehicle conveying some arrested members of the group.