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  • $25b deals row: Presidency, NNPC board call for ceasefire

    $25b deals row: Presidency, NNPC board call for ceasefire

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) boss Dr. Maikanti Baru have been advised to stop their bitter row over the award of $25b contracts – one week after it all began.

    The Presidency and the NNPC Board ordered a ceasefire, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    As the row grew, some observers thought the minister would throw in the towel. But Dr Kachikwu is believed to have ruled out resignation from the cabinet because of his “deep respect for President Muhammadu Buhari, who he insisted is a clean leader”.

    Kachikwu, who was said to have gone to the Presidential Villa with a letter of resignation last Friday, has shelved the move in the “larger interest of the nation”.

    As part of the peace deal, there are moves to urge the Senate to have a “second opinion” on its decision to look at the disputed contracts.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said he did not sign contracts worth N640billion while the President was on medical leave.

    Some government officials and NNPC board members have met separately with Kachikwu and Baru on the need to “reconcile” and save the oil industry from unnecessary tension.

    An NNPC board source said: “We are now trying to de-escalate  the crisis of confidence between the Minister and the GMD. We do not want tension within the system again.

    “Some of us have met with the two leaders in the oil industry on the need to reconcile and sustain the gains in the sector.

    “This is why we do not want  Kachikwu either sacked or dropped from the Federal Executive Council(FEC). The issues raised by both parties can be addressed without further problem.

    “We are hopeful that the crisis is resolvable, going by the responses of the Minister and the GMD.”

    A cabinet source also claimed that some ministers spoke with both parties to “arrest the North-South dimension” which the crisis was assuming.

    The source said: “At least about 14 of us in the cabinet were so much touched and we decided to sue for peace. The way the Minister and the GMD embraced on Tuesday was an indication of the acceptance of our peace deal.

    “We were concerned that the crisis was being turned away from the real substance to infantile assumptions as if any fraud was committed.

    “At least, we have secured a commitment to ceasefire by both leaders, who are both internationally respected. In the last 72 hours, many interventions have occurred.

    “The leader at the centre of it all is President Muhammadu Buhari who felt personally hurt and scandalised by the August 30 memo. The President was really very, very angry.

    The source added: “It was not as if the President refused or decided to delay in responding to the Minister’s memo until it snowballed  into a crisis.

    “The truth is that Kachikwu did not route his memo through the normal official channel for fear of being hijacked or frustrated. He sent it through a presidential aide to ensure that the President got the memo.

    “Kachikwu perfectly laid ambush for those denying people access to the President by beating them to their game. Even after the memo was received by Buhari, he took steps to address it by sending it to the GMD officially for his response.

    As at press time, there were indications that Kachikwu might have abandoned his plan to quit the cabinet.

    A source said: “As a matter of fact, Kachikwu had gone to the Villa last Friday with a letter of resignation but he shelved it because of his deep respect for President Muhammadu Buhari, who he insisted is a clean leader. He loves Buhari and the President also gave him much latitude like a son.”­

  • NNPC: Open letter to PMB

    The August 31 letter from the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, complaining of the insubordination of the Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC) Group Managing Director (GMD), Dr Maikanti Baru, began to generate ripples less than 24 hours after it was made available to the media. The Senate, the next day resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate grave allegations against the NNPC chief executive. The decision followed a motion by Senator Samuel Anyanwu asking for a probe into the enormous and constant jobs given to Duke Energy, a motion which Senator Kabiru Marafa successfully prayed the Senate to include an investigation into the charge that Baru awarded $25bn contracts without due process.

    In the letter to President Buhari, Kachikwu, who is also the chairman of the NNPC Board of Directors, revealed that the NNPC-GMD has since his appointment side-lined him in the affairs of the organization. He cited the example of recent appointments as part of the NNPC reorganization done without his knowledge, as he read about the changes only in the media, like any other person. The irony is that the appointments were made shortly after the corporation’s board held a meeting which, presumably, Baru attended. In other words, he did not deem it fit to intimate the board of the impending development.

    I do not think that anyone doubts that Baru has been carrying on as if the Minister of State does not exist and as if he is no longer the NNPC board chair.  The justification provided by his supporters is that Kachikwu side-lined him when the latter was the GMD-NNPC, by making him a technical assistant in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. In other words, Baru is getting his pound of flesh against Kachikwu.

    Mr. President, there are serious consequences to the nation when key public officers trivialize their positions and make the nation go through avoidable political and social turbulences. Take the recent appointment of 55 NNPC executives which generated a nationwide brouhaha. The South-south geo-political zone from which most of Nigeria’s crude oil and gas resources are produced managed to get only two positions while the South-west received three in the first round of appointments announced. While 10 persons were appointed from the North, not even one person was deemed fit to be appointed in the restructuring. Appointments like this tend to portray the Buhari administration as very sectional. They make Nigerians lose confidence in not just the administration but also the country itself.

    It is self-evident that Kachikwu was not privy to the appointments. Yet, here is someone who has been working round the clock to provide peace in the Niger Delta. He made peace in the region a priority right from the moment he assumed office. The result is that Nigeria now produces up to two million barrels of crude oil per day. Huge resources are no longer spent on repairing gas and oil pipelines blown up by militants protesting against the marginalization of the region. Nor are cases of kidnapping for ransom rampant in the zone any longer.

    Indeed, the NNPC management’s penchant for ignoring the NNPC board chairman cum Minister of State has more dangerous ramifications than many Nigerians seem to know. There is, for example, a clear case of outright misleading of the President by the NNPC GMD. On December 20, 2016, Dr Baru sent a memo to the President urging him to cancel Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13 on the ground that it originally belonged to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NNPD), but was “inadvertently revoked” in 2006 by President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was to convert into four oil blocks. The presentation was, of course, based on a complete fabrication. OML 13, which is within Ogoniland, never belonged to the NPDC. It rather belonged to Shell, but the company could not operate it for 12 years because it was sacked from Ogoniland by the Ogoni people who suspected that Shell had a hand in the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

    Obasanjo did not like the fact that this huge national asset had wasted for over a decade and so resized it into four blocks which were subsequently put up for bidding in the 2007 round. OPL 202, for instance, went to Hi Rev, a Nigerian energy firm with American technical partners, which bid $66m for it. Hi Rev has been keenly interested in building Nigeria’s first modular refinery, which is now 40% completed. Located on top of the Utapate Oilfield in Ibolo East Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, the $150m modular refinery capable of producing 50,000 bpd on completion is designed to produce premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol; automotive gas oil (AGO), better known as diesel; dual purpose kerosene (DPK), often referred to as kerosene; and JET-A1, better known as aviation fuel.

    The fate of this modular refinery is, however, now hanging in the balance. Dr Baru deliberately misled President Buhari to cancel the OPL 202 licence on December 20, 2016 on the spurious allegation that it was originally an NPDC asset, whereas the NPDC did not ever have anything to do with it. Dr Baru succeeded because neither the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Kachikwu, nor the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami, was aware of Baru’s move. Everything was done secretly. It is, indeed, curious that the memo was presented to President Buhari on December 20, when almost everyone was set to go on Christmas and New Year holidays, and approved the same day! To worsen matters, there was not even one change, nor was a query raised for clarification of any issue.

    OPL 202 was not the only acreage which President Buhari invalidated last December 20. OPLs 201, 203 and 2004, all resized from OML 13, were also affected. By perhaps sheer coincidence, these were the only oil blocks won by firms promoted by Niger Delta persons in the 2007 bidding round. And the people of the region are naturally mad like hell at the cancellation. They have so far been held in check the promoters of the firms which won the affected acreages. How long can the restive people be kept in check?

    While urging Your Excellency to look into the misadvised cancellation of OPLs 201, 202, 203 and 204, there is a critical need to make the GMD-NNPC respect hierarchy by carrying key government officials along in policy matters. The failure to carry the Minister of Justice along in the cancellation of OPLs 201, 202, 203 and 204 has resulted in litigation and, more importantly, in a high degree of uncertainty in the Niger Delta.  We cannot gloss over the fact that developments like the controversial NNPC executive appointments announced last August 30, which are heavily lopsided, are costing this administration tremendous political capital. Things could be done better in the NNPC.

     

    • Mrs Bassey-Wellington, an executive director of an oil servicing firm writes from Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
  • $25b contracts: PENGASSAN vows to resist interference in NNPC administration

    $25b contracts: PENGASSAN vows to resist interference in NNPC administration

    Oil workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), have vowed to resist any attempt by officials not designated for the administration of the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to meddle in the affairs of the association.

    The workers warned that they would stop non-executive officials from using top management positions in the NNPC to settle cronies at the detriment of dedicated members of the staff.

    In a statement by the Secretary of the Group Executive Council (GEC) of PENGASSAN in NNPC, Comrade Sulaiman Sulaiman, they noted that the recent re-organisation in the NNPC was in good faith and it encouraged internal growth.

    They said: “We are convinced that the recent re-organisation in NNPC is in good faith and in tandem with our call to allow internal growth in the system through hard work and positive appraisals.

    “We shall continue to reject and vehemently resist attempts in meddling in the day-to-day running of the organisation by non-executive officials of the Corporation. We will no longer allow our institution to be an avenue to settle friends and cohorts into management positions of NNPC at the detriment of dedicated staff with all the requisite qualifications within the system.

    “Problems will continue to occur as long as the Chairman of the Board continues to meddle into the day-to-day running of the organisation, which is a management role. Any attempt to allow this happen will spell doom for the country and create a window for abuse.”

    The senior staff said good practice in corporate governance required absolute segregation of oversight role from the management’s day-to-day functions.

    They asked: “Why should a board chairman seek to meddle in internal organisational adjustment?” They noted that the chairman should focus on performance appraisal of the Board’s committees and its members, rather than wanting to dictate appointments or award contracts in NNPC.

    The workers, contrary to claim in the said letter of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to the President, members of staff are no longer afraid to talk or express their opinion, especially with the domestication of the whistle blowing policy and re-constitution and launch of the Anti-Corruption Committee by the GMD.

  • Osinbajo’s denial: So who signed NNPC’s contracts?

    Osinbajo’s denial: So who signed NNPC’s contracts?

    Earlier on Thursday, Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande in a series of tweets said that the Vice President approved financing joint ventures for Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    Akande said the financing were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President when President Muhammadu Buhari was away in the United Kingdom.

    The VP’s aide said his principal approved the recommendations for the financing as part of necessary actions to deal with the backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments.

    According to Akande Professor  Osinbajo made the clarification in view of media enquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo.

    “Action necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari adm inherited and also to incentivise much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector,” Akande had tweeted.

    However hours later, Akande issued a statement in which he said Professor Osinbajo,  said that he only approved two loans for the NNPC and not contracts as reported by the media.

    Osinbajo made the clarification in Bonny Island where he flagged off the Bodo-Bonny Road, Rivers state.

    His words: ” They were of financing loans, joint venture loans, that have procured so in some cases NNPC ventures have to secure loans and they need the authorization to secure those loans.

    “While the President was away, I granted authorization which is what the law provides.

    “The law actually provides for that authorization, so I did grant all of those, in fact, there were two of them but those are presidential approvals but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are Loans not Contracts”, the Vice President added.

    Based on the earlier claim by the NNPC, the controversial contracts were signed when President Muhammadu Buhari was out of the country for medical treatment.

    If Buhari indeed signed the contracts, he must have done so while in London having handed over government to Osinbajo as Acting President.

    The question begging for answer is who really signed the contracts which were not sent to the NNPC board headed by Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu.

  • Osinbajo denies approving NNPC ‘Contracts’

    Osinbajo denies approving NNPC ‘Contracts’

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday said that he only approved two loans for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and not contracts.

    Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande had earlier said that the Vice President approved contracts for NNPC.

    Akande said the contracts were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President when President Muhammadu Buhari was away in the United Kingdom.

    The VP’s aide said his principal approved the recommendations for the contracts as part of necessary actions to deal with the backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments.

    Akande said Prof. Osinbajo made the clarification in view of media enquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo.

    Akande had tweeted: “In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence & adherence to established procedure.

    Read Also: I approved NNPC joint financing contracts – Osinbajo

    “Action necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari adm inherited and also to incentivise much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector,” Akande had tweeted.

    But reacting to the statement on Thursday in Bonny Island where he flagged off the Bodo-Bonny Road, Rivers state, Osinbajo said he granted loans and not contracts.

    His words: ” They were financing loans, joint venture loans, that have procured so in some cases NNPC ventures have to secure loans and they need the authorization to secure those loans.

    “While the President was away, I granted authorization which is what the law provides.

    “The law actually provides for that authorization, so I did grant all of those, in fact, there were two of them but those are presidential approvals but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are Loans not Contracts”, the Vice President added.

  • NNPC: Kachikwu got contracts for nine firms

    NNPC: Kachikwu got contracts for nine firms

    The war of integrity between Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director (GMD) Dr. Maikanti Baru got more intense yesterday.

    The oil giant faulted the Minister’s claim that he was not consulted on $10billion Crude Term Contracts.

    The NNPC said Kachikwu made an input into the shortlisting of 40 off-takers for the Crude Term Contracts by recommending seven companies, which were engaged.

    Also, the minister was said to have nominated two companies for the alleged Direct Sales, Direct Purchase (DSDP) transactions, which Kachikwu claimed were worth $5billion.

    The corporation said while the Minister was its GMD, he sent a memo to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) seeking clarification on the status of the NNPC Tenders Board.

    NNPC’s position is contained in a fact-sheet apparently prepared against the backdrop of the six posers raised by loyalists of Kachikwu for GMD Baru. The Nation published the posers exclusively yesterday.

    Besides the posers, the minister had in an August 30 memo to President Muhammadu Buhari alleged that he was being sidelined by the GMD.

    He said: “As in many cases of things that happen in NNPC these days, I learn of transactions only through publications in the media. The question is, why is it that other parastatals which I supervise as Minister of State or Chair of their Boards are able to go through these contractual and mandatory governance processes and yet NNPC is exempt from these?”

    Sources, who spoke with our correspondent, with a fact-sheet said the “posers amounted to mere academic exercise and sheer deceit by the minister”.

    They claimed that the minister was consulted on most of the transactions he listed in his memo to the President, including Crude Oil Term transactions, Direct Sales, Direct Purchase (DSDP) contracts and Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline contract.

    The fact-sheet said: “For record purposes, Nigerians should be aware that Kachikwu single-handedly superintended and approved the off-takers of Nigerian Crude Oil and gas for 2016/ 2017. There were no issues then.

    “As for the off-takers for 2017/2018, the minister was consulted by the GMD. Out of a list of 40 off-takers, Kachikwu recommended seven firms, which were accepted by NNPC management without any issue. He initially nominated three and later added four. His judgment was respected, accepted and approved by NNPC management alongside 33 others.

    “The seven off-takers he recommended are as follows: North-West Petroleum; Setana Energy; Emo Oil; Litasco Supply and Trading Company;   Voyage Oil and Gas; Levene International  and Cespa Trading. Since the Minister strongly recommended all these companies, we concurred with his recommendation which was based on a professional judgment. We also did not find any of the companies wanting and they met the criteria for crude lifting.

    “On DSDP, the Minister also nominated two companies, Messrs Falcon Bay Energy Limited and Rain Oil Limited. The NNPC avoided all these details in its statement on Monday in order to protect the interest of these companies doing legitimate business. But Nigerians can appreciate that Kachikwu’s input was sought.

    “Regarding AKK Pipeline contract, NNPC has explained that it is still in the works; it has not been awarded by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    “There was this $9.2billion Escravos Gas Pipeline Project which the GMD did not touch  in his memo to the President. Apart from discussing and reviewing it with the Board of NNPC, the GMD wrote a June 29, 2017 memo to the Presidency and after official process and consultations with the Minister, it was approved. In fact, the Minister gave the final approval in a memo of August 22, 2017, although with some reservations.

    “Concerning sections 130(2) and 148(1) of the 1999 Constitution, the Minister only alluded to the powers of the President. The NNPC GMD made it clear that he obtained the approval of the President on these transactions. If the President, as the senior Minister of Petroleum Resources, has exercised his constitutional powers, what else is the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources after?

    “It should be noted that NNPC and its GMD are only following the standards put in place by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources on Crude Oil Term Contracts and other transactions. NNPC is following the same rules which the Minister put in place. But the Minister is now criticising the same rules. The only thing that has changed is that Kachikwu is not the substantive GMD of NNPC again.’

    “Nigerians need to know that the Minister (while he was the GMD of NNPC) wrote a memo to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to seek clarifications on the financial limit of NNPC Tenders Board. And the BPP put the limit at $20million. This is what the NNPC management has been adhering to.”

    When contacted, a top source in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who is in the position to know, said NNPC was lying.

    The source said: “All of the above are lies. No official documentation backing this. This and possibly more to come are vain efforts to discredit Kachikwu and cover up the damning allegations he made.”

  • Award of $25 billion contracts: Baru violated NNPC Act, says Falana

    Award of $25 billion contracts: Baru violated NNPC Act, says Falana

    Activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has said that the defence of the Group Managing Director (GMD), Dr. Maikanti Baru, that he has powers to award contracts to the exclusion of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is illegal and violates the NNPC Act.

    Falana contended that the defence of Dr. Baru failed to recognise of the provision of Section 6 (c) of the NNPC Act, which has vested the Board of the NNPC with the exclusive power to”enter into contracts or partnerships with any company, firm or person which in the opinion of the Corporation will facilitate the discharge of the said duties under this Act.”

    Falana stated this in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday titled, “NNPC operates outside the law” in reaction to the on-going face-off between the minister and the GMD of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru over the unilateral award of $25 billion contracts by the latter.

    The lawyer also noted that Dr. Baru failed to respond to the unilateral appointments of key staff in the NNPC without the approval of the Board of Directors, pointing out that since this particular allegation was not denied, it is reasonable to conclude that it is admitted by the NNPC management, even though the appointments in question were made in utter violation of the Federal Character Commission Act.

    Notwithstanding the report that the Presidency has thrown its weight behind the NNPC GMD in the face-off with the Minster, Falana stressed the need to review the matter within the ambit of the law.

    On the management of the NNPC and contract awards, Falana said: “For the avoidance of doubt, Section 1 (2) of the NNPC Act states that the affairs of the Corporation shall be conducted by the Board of Directors of the Corporation. Since it is conceded by Dr. Baru that some contracts are subject to the approval of either the Board or the Federal Executive Council, he is yet to inform the Nigerian people who approved the $25 billion contracts.

    “It is pertinent to state, without any fear of contradiction, that by virtue of Section 3 of the NNPC Act, the GMD as the chief executive of the Corporation, shall be responsible for the execution of the policy of the Corporation and the day to day running of the Corporation’s activities and its associated services. But, contrary to the erroneous impression conveyed by the management of the NNPC, there is no conflict whatsoever between the provisions of the NNPC Act and the Public Procurement Act, 2007 to justify the usurpation of the powers of the NNPC Board by the Tenders Board of the NNPC headed by the GMD. Therefore, the unilateral award of multi-billion dollar contracts in the NNPC by Dr. Baru or the Tenders Board is illegal, null and void in every material particular.

    “With respect, the totality of Dr. Baru’s defence was anchored on the mistaken belief that the NNPC Act does not require him to report to the Minister of State but to President Buhari in his capacity as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

    “Dr. Baru must have forgotten that upon the removal of Dr. Kachikwu as the NNPC GMD in 2016, the President appointed him as the Chairman of the reconstituted Board of the NNPC in line with Section 3 of the NNPC Act. Therefore, the decision of Dr. Baru to by-pass the Chairman of the Board in the award of the contracts and appointment of NNPC staff cannot be justified either under the NNPC Act.”

    Falana contended that “since Dr. Kachukwu was not removed as the Chairman of the Board, the President ought not to have encouraged Dr. Baru to treat him with such pompous disdain and arrogance”.

    He argued that the impression given by Dr Baru that once the President was briefed with respect to the award of the contracts, that due process had been observed in the award of the $25 billion contracts in line with the PPA was misleading.

    He maintained that such a position was neither backed by the NNPC Act nor the PPA. He said the competent authorities that have the final say in the award of contracts and disposal of public assets under the current political dispensation are the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the National Council of Public Procurement (NCPP).

    “The NCPP is not chaired by the President, but by the Minister of Finance. The other members of the NCPP include some officials of the Federal Government and representatives of relevant professional bodies and civil society organisations.

    “Apart from constituting the NCPP and the BPP   the President has not been empowered to approve any contract whatsoever. In fact, there is no reference whatsoever to the Federal Executive Council in the entirety of 61 sections of the PPA. To that extent, the FEC presided over by the President cannot approve the award of contracts which is the exclusive duty of the NCPP and BPP.

    “Although the PPA was enacted in 2007, the President or the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has  been approving multi-billion dollar or naira contracts, albeit illegally.

    The activist lamented that the Buhari administration, which has loudly undertaken to fight corruption, has ignored calls from many civil society organisations to set up the NCPP.

    He said since neither the President nor the Federal Executive Council was competent  to approve the award of contracts under the PPA the claim of the NNPC GMD that the controversial contracts were approved by the President could not be justified under the PPA.

    To avoid a situation whereby the $25 billion contracts and others being awarded by the Buhari administration are annulled and set aside on the grounds that they were awarded by either the President or the FEC without any legal authority, Falana counseled  President Buhari to constitute the  NCPP without any further delay.

    “If this call is ignored, once again, the civil society anti-corruption bodies ought to approach the Federal High Court for a writ of mandamus to compel the President to inaugurate the NCPP,” he said.

    He also noted that apart from breaching the NNPC Act and PPA, the NNPC had conveniently ignored the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Act and had refused to comply with the directive of the NEITI to remit $21.7 billion and N376 billion illegally withheld from the Federation Account.

    Though Dr. Kachukwu recently disclosed that the nation had lost $60 billion due, he noted that the NNPC has refused  to recover same by implementing the provisions of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act and instead of directing the NNPC to recover and remit the huge fund  to the Federation Account, the Federal Government was busy piling up external loans.

    He also noted that the NNPC does not subject its budgets to the National Assembly for appropriation as stipulated by the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

    H recalled that shortly before proceeding on its annual vacation, the Senate disclosed that the NNPC and 33 other agencies of the Federal Government had failed to submit their 2017 budget to the National Assembly but that  the NNPC management ignored the disclosure knowing that the Senate would not pursue the matter.

    Falana contended that  Dr.Ibe Kachukwu owed it a duty to the country to react to the allegation of the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that he engaged in the unilateral award of multibillion dollar contracts during his tenure as Group Managing Director (GMD).

    He remarked that even if the allegation of the NNPC GMD against the minister is true,  it cannot justify what he described as the reckless impunity that has characterized the management of the affairs of the NNPC since 1999.

    He contended however that the allegations and counter-allegations of Dr. Kachukwu and Dr. Baru over contract awards had reinforced his earlier call on President Muhammadu Buhari to relinquish the post of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and appoint a full-fledged minister to run and coordinate the affairs on the oil and gas industry in strict compliance with the law.

    He said the board of the NNPC should be reconstituted by reducing its present membership from nine to six persons as provided for by Section 1(2) of the NNPC Act.

  • Rumble in the NNPC

    Perhaps it is too early for “outsiders” to comment on the now ranging war in The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).  But as a starting point, I would say it is a good omen for this country which has been plundered and decimated by heartless bureaucrats and thieving politicians.  The story is long.

    Starting from the second half of the last century, the country discovered and started to exploit crude oil in commercial quantities.  The country was awash with petrodollars that General Yakubu Gowon, then Military Head of State stated that money was not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it.  This has gone down permanently perhaps as one quotable politician lexicon.  But it was the truth.

    Like a prodigal son who is raised in a comfortable home, the nation lost focus and used and spent the extra cash recklessly, foolishly.  That was not the end.  There grew up within the NNPC, the octopus created by the extra liquidity, an unprecedented bureaucracy replete with filth, manipulation and open stealing.  Several subsidiaries, associates, parallel organizations with competing or dubious functions sprouted within the organization.  NNPC and its ancillaries grew to be a monster almost impossible to tame.

    For a time, top civil servants who struggled to be posted to this monster either as permanent secretaries or such other high position soon sought their way out to avoid being consumed by the rot and fury in the group.  Indeed, I heard a friend say there were two parallel governments in Nigeria- the federal government and NNPC.  He did not expatiate.

    Currently, the ‘fight’ between the Minster of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC is a logical result of a government determined to fight corruption. In effect, elements beyond the frontline combatants are saying it is the time and forum that this administration should prove its transparent credentials.  The contestants may not know it, but the elements who show sympathy for this nation are at work.

    Or else how can the two captains – minister and GMD be fighting naked in the market place? Nigerians are not deceived, one of these big men deliberately leaked the letter to the president in an attempt to prove innocent when the grapes are down which leads us to our immediate past.  Such a ‘scandal’ would not have seen the light of day if it was during the  administration whose narrow ethnicity and unashamed tribal  considerations were high  points in appointment to high positions in the organization or where there was a close affinity between the minister and the presidency.  It is not cynical to a affirm that the present dichotomy  is good for Nigeria as no one region or group of regions will ever be  allowed to take all the plum jobs or corner all the fat contracts.

    The harmony between the NNPC big wigs and the presidency was injurious to Nigeria’s interest in the past.  There was a spectacular cartoon in one of Nigeria’s dailies where an ex-President mounted  the Petroleum Minister on his back with a feeding bottle dangling in her  hand, she challenged ‘intruding’ newsmen who were chasing her for news to come near her, having been secure at the back of the President.  Such was the dare, the audacity of the past.

    The whole problem at the NNPC and the petroleum ministry is the constant problem that besets the Nigerian nation, where a ‘tribal’ man is head of an organization, he ensures the next five if not 10 officers to him are from ‘his own’.  This essentially ignores the interest of other however competent or qualified.  These small tyrants feel safe only if they are surrounded by their clansmen.  They forget that Nigeria is a plurality that apart from the provisions of the constitution which enjoins federal character in key political and public service appointments, commonsense and equity demands that the cake should go round.  Today, very few MDAs respect the fair injunction.  If your ‘townsmen’ are not there, you better forget about it seems to be the article of faith.  But it is doubtful if this position will last since there will always be splinter groups which will be militant and would not hesitate to topple the apple cat.

    The  problems emanating from our oil company should be expected since the supervising minister and the group’s chief executive officer are from different geo-political zones, each noted for its inward looking, and ever supported by different tribal group to ‘out grapple’ the other.  The Nigerian politician terrain is flush with such in-fighting.  But the difference here is that at the pinnacle, the real pinnacle of it all is the President who I am sure will not feel comfortable with the mess created by the leaked memo from one chieftain of the government to the other.  In other climes the two would go, in Nigeria, the worst that can happen is a pat on the palm and an injunction to sin no more.

    The media are almost unanimous in asking PMB to take urgent action.  Some have already pronounced judgment.  Political (and sectional) television commentators have taken sides.  Of all the pontification, oral and written, the most realist position so far has been that of Itse Sagay, the ever passionate patriot and tormentor-in-chief of Nigeria’s looters.  He has advised the president to hear all sides before taking appropriate decision.  Those who urge Buhari to step down as petroleum minister have a poor memory of our recent past.  Most practicing politicians are in the game to cut a sizeable chunk of the cake and except you find a man as compassionate as Buhari, it will continue to be a revolving chair for the nation.  Let Buhari retain the portfolio and continue to oversee the welfare of the cow.

    However this is one opportunity for government to have a new long view of the NNPC and all its hangouts.  We should no longer tolerate a public institution which considers itself equal to the appointing authority. This could be acceptable in a decadent nonchalant regime, not one that is refreshingly different.

    We are watching.

     

    • Fasuan MON; JP writes from Ado-Ekiti.
  • NNPC’s claim on approval of contracts false- Kachikwu associates

    NNPC’s claim on approval of contracts false- Kachikwu associates

    The claim by that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s Tenders Board is the only legal body to approve contracts and not the Board is false.

    Associates of the Minister of State of Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this in a fact-sheet available to The Nation on Wednesday.

    The fact-sheet was in response to NNPC’s Monday statement, which described Kachikwu as a “liar” with his August 30 memo to President.

    Kachikwu wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari, alleging that NNPC’S Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru

    • awarded $25billion contracts unilaterally;
    • ran a “bravado” management; and
    • made appointments without consultations.

    Baru denied it all. He said no money was involved in the contracts and that the NNPC Tenders Board had no business reporting to Kachikwu and the corporation’s Board. The Presidency backed his position.

    The fact-sheet however said: “Baru’s claim that the NNPC Tenders’ Board, not the NNPC Board, is the right body to approve such contracts in question is also false. According to Public Procurement Act’s Section below:

    S.20. (1) The accounting officer of a procuring entity shall be the person charged with line supervision of the conduct of all procurement processes; in the case of ministries the Permanent Secretary and in the case of extra-ministerial departments and corporations the Director-General or officer of co-ordinate responsibility.

    (2) The accounting officer of every procuring entity shall have overall responsibility for the planning of, organization of tenders, evaluation of tenders and execution of all procurements and in particular shall be responsible for.”

    “Apart from the GMD as the appointor of the Tenders’ Board, which he also chairs, his duty is purely to plan, organise, evaluate, execute and supervise the conduct of ‘procurement processes’ and not to approve contracts above his threshold under the seal of the Corporation.

    “He cannot plan, organise, evaluate, execute procurement process, approve and execute approved projects. He lacks the statutory capacity to be the sole determinant of due process in the corporation.

    “But after the approval by the NNPC Board, President or FEC, it is worthy of note that the Tenders’ Board, according to Public Procurement Act in Section 22 (3), ‘shall be responsible for the award of procurement of goods, works and services within the threshold set in the regulations.”

    “Under the seal of the NNPC Board, according to the First Schedule, Part A, Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the NNPC Act which says:

    “11. The fixing of the seal of the Corporation shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman and any other person authorized in that behalf by the Board.

    1. Any contract or instrument, which if made or executed by any person not being a body corporate would not be required to be under seal, may be made or executed on behalf of the Corporation by any person generally or specially authorised to act for that purpose by the Board.
    2. Any document purporting to be a contract, instrument or other document duly signed or sealed on behalf of the Corporation shall be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed without further proof to have been so signed and sealed.”

     

  • NNPC: Buhari’s autumn as moral Czar?

    NNPC: Buhari’s autumn as moral Czar?

    Iron-clad integrity was the chief credential General Muhammadu Buhari flaunted to win power in 2015. Today, that golden badge appears under grave erosion in view of rising tide of sleaze and tales of apparent presidential indifference.

    Last week’s leaked memo by scorned junior oil minister, Ibe Kachikwu, provides what potentially may now be the tipping point.

    In a rather rambling response Monday, the NNPC boss, Maikanti Baru, could not but admit that approval was still needed from a superior for any big transaction he entered. The big question then: was President Buhari granting such behind Kachikwu’s back?

    In any case, that a man supposedly saddled with overseeing the nation’s fattest “cash cow” (as a presidency official recently classified the NNPC) could not access the principal for more than seven harrowing weeks until the confidential letter leaked cannot be a compliment. It perhaps best describes the squalor of the prevailing governance process in Abuja.

    Before now, we saw a pathetic president unable to muscle the way for the EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu. Twice, he nominated him to the Senate. Twice, the congress torpedoed him utilizing ammunition supplied twice by no other than Buhari’s own appointee at the DSS.

    Now, a national outrage has been spreading since Kachikwu’s epistle became public last week with many still unable to understand how a tiny circle could incinerate the Procurement Act and, within few months, consummate a raft of contracts whose $25bn value is more than the nation’s entire budget for 2017 and only a little less than Nigeria’s current foreign reserve.

    Now, official spin doctors appear to have pushed the gear to overdrive. We are, for instance, told ”no cash involved in the $25b transactions” at NNPC’s expense. Does that foreclose the prospect of bribes exchanging hands before or after the sweetheart deals?

    But Nigerians would probably have got even madder had they the presence of mind to contemplate the words left unsaid between the lines in Kachikwu’s petition. Though the junior oil minister didn’t name names, only few Nigerians are in doubt the character allegedly blocking him from seeing Buhari could be other than Chief Of Staff Abba Kyari who, interestingly, doubles as NNPC board member and, tellingly, is known as the dean of the now notorious cabal at the Villa. Wasn’t the president being briefed by the CoS about happenings at the NNPC all along?

    It was in anticipation of conflicts of interest like this that many had questioned the propriety of Buhari’s own CoS being involved in NNPC board in the first place. Now, it is open secret that out of the ten slots allotted to the north in the recent appointment bazaar by Baru two went to ex-employees of a commercial bank which Kyari once led. So, who does not know how to hide meat in the mouth and pretend otherwise?

    After the NNPC scandal blew open, a rather wild allegation has been circulating linking the head of the Villa cabal to one of the firms that cornered the multi-billion dollar contracts at issue. In fairness, this remains only an allegation. But public suspicion will fester with the officer referenced refusing to deny or confirm.

    According to Kachikwu in the same letter, attempts earlier by Baru to smuggle some illegalities in through the backdoor while “Mai Gaskiya” was with his physicians in London were stoutly rebuffed by then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, insisting due process be followed.

    Again, Kachikwu stopped at faulting Baru’s recent appointments in NNPC procedurally. A review of the particulars hints of something worse than sleaze. South-East where Abia and Imo States bear oil got nothing, but the section of the country that does not produce even a drop of oil cornered the lion’s share. And when recruitment was to be made into the DSS much earlier, more than fifty percent of the slots were reserved for the president’s native Katsina.

    If we are to believe that PMB didn’t know or couldn’t have sanctioned all these all along as being canvassed by his advocates, then there can only be a more frightening certainty: the president must be utterly oblivious of key happenings around him, being technically out of power even though ceremonially in office.

    This might sound apocryphal. Recently, a top-flight media player tried to apprise foreign professional colleagues at a workshop in London of the progress report at home, stressing that Buhari’s honesty was making all the difference. After listening to his sweet tale, the story is told that someone then sought a clarification of that honesty since, as they continued to hear, the same man was finding it exceedingly difficult to share with his fellow countrymen the nature of the ailment that was keeping him on a foreign soil indefinitely at taxpayers’ expense.

    If Kachikwu truly was found wanting before Baru was handed the rein of power in NNPC last year as already being whispered around today, the question: why was he kept a day longer? Let him face the music squarely in the name of equity. Or, the more unsettling probability: is his continued retention merely a cosmetic to seduce the militants in his native Niger Delta from resuming the sabotaging of oil exploration?

    Amid this raging moral storm, it is quite instructive that Buhari’s longtime advocates like Tam David-West have kept a studied silence thus far. Just how did a supposed nun get diagnosed of STD? This certainly is not the promise of 2015.

    Given the sheer enormity of these charges, it is doubtful if the old professor of Virology, himself an implacable apostle of truth, transparency and all that is noble, would not have been sufficiently provoked to shoot someone right away before even bothering to ask further question.

    Again, PMB’s continued silence almost two months after the submission of the probe report on suspended SGF, Lawal Babachir’s alleged scam and Ayo Oke’s $43m mystery cash haul only refreshes the sad memory of the 53 suitcase scandal of 1984.

    A deadline had been announced for the change of currency notes. Against the prevailing official order seeking to choke out currency traffickers then, Buhari’s ADC would storm the Lagos international airport to smooth the way for the evacuation of the curious foreign cargoes said to be filled with Naira notes. The owner was a powerful northern figure. Even after the facts became established by the crusading media, no heads rolled.

    Also, an obscure professor who claims to be PMB’s townsman was in July accused of immersing himself in incestuous contracts award at the NHIS to the tune of N1bn. He only accepted to go on suspension following a national outcry while the president was still undergoing medical treatment abroad.

    He was only recently suspended indefinitely. But what does that mean? Another dirty laundry stored in a crowded closet?

    As if that is not enough, an ethical storm is also engulfing the Nigeria Police today with the No 1 cop at the centre. So far, only a few are convinced by the Inspector General’s response through fumbling aides to weighty allegations of promotion racketeering and untidy payment by big corporate players for protection leveled by Senator Misau. A charge corroborated in the Vanguard last Saturday by no less a credible figure and insider than the Crime Fighter boss.

    Misau lobbed in more hand grenades last week with another expose that the IG has been putting serving police women in family way against service rule and granting one of them accelerated promotion and a wedding band. If any doubt ever existed about the veracity of the latest salacious story, it was removed with a photo splash by The Sun newspaper last Saturday of who is who at the lavish wedding threw by the love-smitten IG (someone already mischievously interpreted online as “Inspector