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Tag: Petroleum Minister

  • Agbakoba urges court to disqualify Buhari as Petroleum Minister

    Agbakoba urges court to disqualify Buhari as Petroleum Minister

    A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr Olisa Agbakoba SAN has urged a Federal High Court in Abuja to disqualify President Muhammadu Buhari from holding office as Petroleum Minister.

    Agbakoba prayed the court to declare that Section 138 of the 1999 Constitution bars the President of Nigeria from holding another executive office or paid employment, such as that of a petroleum minister.

    He is also seeking a declaration that by Section 147(2) of the Constitution, the President cannot lawfully hold the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources without confirmation by the Senate.

    A restraining order, he contended, ought to be issued to bar the President from simultaneously holding a ministerial office.

    Agbakoba further prayed the court to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, to, within 30 days, cause an appearance to be entered on Buhari’s behalf.

    In an originating summons filed yesterday, Agbakoba raised two issues for determination by the court.

    He asked: “By virtue of Section 138 of the 1999 Constitution, which disqualifies the President of Nigeria from holding any other executive office or paid employment, can the Nigerian President simultaneously serve as Minister of Petroleum Resources, which is an executive office?

    “By virtue of Section147(2) of the 1999 Constitution, if the President is not disqualified, can the President hold the office of Minister of Petroleum Resources, without confirmation by the Senate of the National Assembly?”

    In a 14-paragraph affidavit, which he personally deposed to in support of his suit, Agbakoba explained that the basis of his suit was the recent management crisis in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), between Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and NNPC Group Managing Director Dr. Maikanti Baru.

    He said: “I verily believe that the governance chaos of NNPC could not have occurred if the President is not also the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

    “I am worried that the crisis in NNPC will greatly reduce Nigeria’s revenue generating capacity and will affect revenue distributable to Federal, States and Local Governments in Nigeria. This will gravely affect development nationwide and drastically impact on me and all Nigerians including those in Anambra state (my state of origin) and Lagos state (my state of residence).

    “I looked at Section 138 of the 1999 Constitution and I verily believe it disqualifies the President from holding executive office including that of Minister of Petroleum, during his tenure of office as President.

    “I also know that the President did not go through nomination process and confirmation by the Senate, before holding the office of Minister of Petroleum Resources

    “I again looked at Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution and I verily believe it prohibits anybody from holding the office of a Minister of the Federation, without confirmation by the Senate.”

  • Buhari as Petroleum Minister unconstitutional

    SIR:  ”The President of Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not, during his tenure in office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsoever”- Section 138, Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Pursuant to the quoted Section, the President is expressly, definitively and unambiguously not allowed/disallowed from holding any other executive position throughout the duration of his presidency.

    President Muhammadu Buhari chose to formally inform fellow citizens of his intention to retain the Petroleum Resources ministerial portfolio during his recent visit to New York, in the United States of America.

    The unstated precedent that may have encouraged President Buhari to do likewise is the fact that his predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also held on to the office throughout the latter’s tenure, from 1999 to 2007, in violation of Section 138 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

    It is possible that former President  Obasanjo and incumbent President Buhari may have relied, or may be relying on the seemingly broad power of the office of the President, pursuant to Section 5(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which states: “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the executive powers of the Federation shall be vested in the President and may subject as aforesaid and to the provisions of law made by the National Assembly, be exercised by him either directly or through the Vice-President and Ministers of the Government of the Federation or officers in the public service of the Federation”.

    However, I believe it is settled in law that where certain provisions of any grundnorm are ambiguous on a particular subject matter, the existence of any prohibitive provision effectively circumscribes and supersedes every other section which may suggest otherwise.

    This means that the express prohibition provision as slated in Section 138 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, effectively precludes President Buhari from appointing himself Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources and, therefore, also does not allow him/disallows him from exercising the substantive power and authority of the referred executive office.

    Accordingly, the widely reported speculation that the President is likely to nominate Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, should also be reviewed and not be allowed to take place.

    Going ahead with this plan is most likely to violate certain provision of the Nigerian Petroleum Act, 1969, which clearly stated the functions of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Board of NNPC, the GMD of NNPC and other agencies.

    Since President Buhari has an established reputation as a dogged advocate for the rule of law, I hereby invite other more learned persons and constitutional authorities to weigh in on this very important subject matter, in order to prevent the President from perpetrating a constitutional breach which is ongoing.

     

    • Ademola Orunbon

    Epe, Lagos State.

     

     

  • Petroleum Minister: Itsekiri group slams Urhobo’s ambition

    As various ethnic groups in the Niger Delta are jostling for the appointment of their kinsman as Petroleum Minister, the leaders of the Itsekiri ethnic nation in Delta state has slammed their Urhobo counterpart over perceived tactics of blackmail to achieve the aim

    The Warri Study Group (WSG), in reaction to a statement credited to the Urhobo Consultative Forum (UCF), said the Urhobos  are not qualified to seek one of the juiciest ministerial position, contrary to the claim by the UCF and its ‘falsehood and misinformation’ on Urhobo’s oil production quantum,.

    WSG, in a statement signed by Edward Ekpoko and Tony Ede, Chairman and Secretary debunked the claim that “The Urhobo contributes over 80 per cent of the nation’s income.”

    They said: “Though they (UCF) did not name their resources, but since it is the Petroleum  Ministry they want, we can safely say it is oil and gas. If it is so, it is false; no state in Nigeria  produces up to 50 per cent of its oil and gas. The leading oil producing state in Nigeria presently is Akwa-Ibom State. Delta State comes in after Rivers and Baysela States. The Urhobo are among the least producers of oil and gas even in   Delta State. They produce about 20% of Delta State production, far behind the Itsekiri and Ijaw  in Delta State going by records of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and DESOPADEC.

    “The Ijaw as an ethnic nation remains the leading oil producing ethnic nationality in Nigeria followed by the Itsekiri of the three Warri Local Government Areas of Delta State.

    “One may ask; why do they want the Ministry of Petroleum Resources? Is it the opportunity for looting in the industry that has now been exposed and being investigated? When have ministerial appointments, being filled by advertorial placement?

    “We are surprised our Urhobo neighbour has not imbibed the palpable change the Buhari era has ushered in! Advertise for ministerial appointment! Perish the idea, you are not qualified,” Ekpokpo and Ede said in the statement.

    They also faulted the UCF’s claim that the late Yoruba sage and former Premiere of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, gave the Itsekiri undue advantage to marginalise the Urhobos of Warri through policies and  programmes in that era.

    “All Nigerians, except the sponsors of this falsehood, blackmail and treachery, are fully aware of the well-published and well-known facts about Itsekiri of Warri in Nigerian history.”

    The Warri group also lambasted the UCF for castigating President Goodluck Jonathan in the statement stressing that they were not fair to him in spite of his largess to the Urhobo nation.

    While conceding that President Jonathan’s policies were hostile towards Itsekiri and many other ethnic groups, the WSG said same cannot be said of the Urhobo, who got various ministerial appointments and board membership under the former president.

    “Though, it is now fashionable for those currying favour from President Buhari to accuse President  Jonathan of all evils, the truth must be told. The Urhobo under President Jonathan had two Ministers  – Chiefs Kenneth Gbagi and Stephen Oru and Chairpersons of Boards including the National Judicial Institute.

    “President Jonathan’s sweet romance with, and benevolence to, the Urhobos  made the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) take a vow to neither eat nor drink until President Jonathan was voted in at  the last election to the extent that  UPU even refused to welcome General Muhammadu Buhari, then campaigning for election.

    “President Jonathan’s alleged largesse caused the disgraceful fragmentation that belittled and mocked the Urhobo nation before and after the election,” WSG added.

  • I’ve stepped on many toes – Alison-Madueke

    I’ve stepped on many toes – Alison-Madueke

    The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, on Wednesday maintained that she has stepped on many toes while giving her best to the nation.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, she also denied the reports that she was pleading with former Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar, to talk with the incoming government in order to safe her name.

    She said: “I do believe that I have done the best for Nigeria in this job and I have attained many firsts in the history of oil and gas especially in the reforms that we have done. In this period of time, I have stepped on many big foots particularly the fleets of the cabals that were in the industry when we came in.

    “Because I have said severally that we will open up the industry to all Nigerians and we have done that not to the pleasure of certain cabals.  And I have been continuously maligned because of this and we have taken millions and in fact billions of Dollars out of the hands of foreign multinationals and their subcontractors and put them in the hands of Nigerians through Nigerian Content.

    Continuing, she said: “Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have come into the oil and gas industry because of our reforms.

    “Quite frankly, I think as unprecedented as it is, it does not please everybody and that cannot be helped but let us remember the unprecedented reforms that have happened in the oil industry during our time, such as major gas reforms, the Petroleum Industry Bill, which has been completely revised, reformed and put into the hands of members of the National Assembly where it has languished for two years in the National Assembly.

    “In that bill are all the reforms needed to tear NNPC apart, make it a National Oil company, an equity share company through transparency, accountability and responsibility and reduce corruption in the industry. We did all theses and we put them in place to reduce corruption.”

    On the various corruption allegations against her, she said that her tenure witnessed the most open and well audited time in the history of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    She added: “So for me to be tagged with various tags of corruption, $10 million jet purchase, who buys jet for $10 million dollars for goodness sake? And $20 billion missing money for which PWC had done a report and the $1.48 billion which is not missing, which is actually money transferred by the NNPC to NPDC which is a subsidiary and NPDC has actually started making payments under my directives.

    “I have said during our time that there are gaps in the NNPC and I said that openly. But I can also say that there is no time in Nigerian history in the oil and gas has NNPC being as open and audited as it is today.”

    “So let me state it clearly for the records that Nigeria is my country and I am not going anywhere, I love my country and I do think that I have done the best for my country and I would also like to point these malicious, malevolence, vindictive libels coming out of places like Osun Defender and other faceless online and other entities need to stop.

    “We have done enough for this industry, we cannot please everybody. Yes, we have stepped on toes but we did that in the best interest of Nigeria and we have opened up the oil and gas industry to all Nigerians, thousands of Nigerians have benefited from our reforms in the system.”

    On the report that she was pleading with Abdulsalami, she said: “I believe that His Excellency has already answered that and called it unnecessary mischief and I will ask that the media do its research properly and deal with the facts. I have the privilege of meeting with many senior states men, during the course of my job in the federal executive council and I was surprised that he should be singled out in any such form. The short answer is no.”

    “I have not sought such assistance because I am not aware that I have been indicted of any crime that I will need a soft landing. Over the last four years, I have been severally and unfortunately accused and labeled in so many malicious and vindictive ways. I have explained these things and pushed back robustly on these accusations and I have even gone to court on many of them. Yet they keep being regurgitated. And I think it is unfortunate, particularly when we are moving into a transition period and looking forward to an incoming government which is coming to take over from where we have ended.

    “For everything that has a beginning there is an end and that is not a surprise. What is the surprise is the sort of malevolence bothering on personal malicious libel to my person during this period of time,” she said

    The Minister disclosed that the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) has started refund of $1.48 billion to the Federation Account in line with the recommendations of the Price Water House Cooper forensic audit

    She said: “The Price Water House Cooper forensic audit that was done few weeks ago in its recommendation mentioned that $1.48B was owed by NPDC for a block that had hitherto been assigned from the NNPC to NPDC which is its subsidiary and they felt that the right process would be that NPDC will refund that money to the Federation Account.

    “NPDC has apparently started those refunds and it is also in discussion with NNPC and DPR on same. So the refund has actually began,” she said

    According to her, scarcity of fuel being witnessed in Abuja and other parts of the country are caused by hoarding.

    “This is very unfortunate and you know that product supply and distribution have been one of the high points of this administration when we came in. We have kept queues to the nearest minimum. We have moved away from the challenges of the past and ensured through our various flexible product arrangement that we kept Nigeria wet with fuel supply.

    “Unfortunately, as we are coming to a transition, whenever certain things are happening, intruders will hijack the process and certain amount of hoarding taking place for various reasons, this is what we are experiencing and there is no reason for this because our reserves are enough to keep the country wet with products throughout this period.

    “PMS is available, marketers should make it available to Nigerians, we have worked so hard to build the system and we don’t want it distracted in these latter days,” Diezani stated

  • PIB: President, Petroleum Minister to lose powers

    PIB: President, Petroleum Minister to lose powers

    • Reps to pass bill on resumption from break

    • Why 2015 budget was not passed

    If the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), as prepared by the House of Representatives are adopted and passed into law, then the country’s President would no longer enjoy the discretionary power to award oil blocks.

    Also, the Minister of Petroleum Resources would also lose his control over agencies and departments under the Ministry, as the power to recommend the Chief Executives of the agencies to the President would have been stripped off the minister.

    However Nigerians are to enjoy more say in the running of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corruption  (NNPC) and the Nigerian Gas Company  or their successors as a large part of their shares are be sold to Nigerians through public offers at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    These, among others, are contained in the PIB report  on the floor of the House in Abuja, yesterday. The Chairman, Ad hoc Committee on PIB, Ishaka Bawa, laid the report at plenary. The report has not been considered or adopted by the House.

    Bawa, while presenting the executive summary of the report to the press after plenary, said it took the Committee that was inaugurated on November 15, 2012 over two years to complete its work.

    He said the 23-member Committee took cognisance of the technicalities of the sector and the lasting effects the recommendations in the bill are likely to have on Nigerians and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

    The objectives of the bill, according to him, are to create a conducive business environment for petroleum operations, enhance exploration and exploitation of petroleum in Nigeria for the benefit of Nigerians.

    He said: “The objectives of the bill amongst others are to optimise domestic gas supplies, particularly for power generation and industrial development as well as establish commercially oriented and profit driven oil and gas entities.’’

    It also aims to “deregulate and liberalise the downstream petroleum sector  in addition to establish a progressive fiscal framework that encourages further investment in the petroleum industry while optimising revenue accruing to the government”.

    He said the Committee scrutinised the 363 sections and anexure in the original bill and made some amendments and recommendations.

    The Committee recommended that the discretionary powers of the President to grant petroleum licences and leases as contained in Section 191 of the original bill is completely removed.

    In its place, the Committee introduced competitive bidding for the award of such license and leases.

    He said: “The rationale behind this ammendment is simply to avoid the practice whereby power for the award of oil blocks was discretionary.

    “Whereas the Committee has retained the conventional powers of the Minister under Section 6 of the bill, the powers conferred on the Minister over the control of newly established agencies in the petroleum industry appear to be enormous and capable of undermining the independence of the regulatory agencies.

    “Therefore, the Committee in its wisdom has recommended the removal of powers given to the Minister either to serve as Chairman or to recommend to the President the appointment of Chairman of the Boards of such agencies.”

     

  • Will Petroleum Minister meet stakeholders’ expectations?

    Will Petroleum Minister meet stakeholders’ expectations?

    Expectations from the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke are high this year. EMEKA UGWUANYI reports

    Last year was chaotic for the petroleum industry. It began on a stormy note with protests over the withdrawal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government and resultant increase in fuel price. The protests led to calls from Nigerians and interest groups for increased transparency and probity in the petroleum sector.

    There were calls from several quarters and groups for the sack of the minister for her alleged inability to meet the expectations of Nigerians, especially with the unveiling of the rot in the downstream sector through the probe of petroleum subsidy regime. The probe uncovered billions of naira corruptly frittered away by unscrupulous marketers who claimed subsidy refunds without actually importing fuel.

    The public outrage and calls for transparency in all transactions in the downstream sector compelled the minister to set up four task forces to cater for different areas of public complaints. The terms of reference for all the task forces were geared toward promoting efficiency and transparency in the petroleum industry and other parastatals under the ministry. The committees include the Special Taskforce on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which was headed by Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Special Task Force on Governance and Control headed by Dotun Suleiman, Special Task Force on Petroleum Revenue chaired by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and Task Force on National Refineries headed by Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu.

    The taskforces have submitted their reports. Some of which revealed some uncomplimentary findings and recommendations. For instance, the Mallam Nuhu Ribadu-led taskforce revealed undue loss of public revenue through unwholesome practices by some parastatals under the ministry and allocation of oil blocks without recourse to due process and at give away prices.

    The Kalu Idika Kalu-led taskforce wrote off the refineries as mere scraps, noting that they operate below 20 per cent capacity, which led to fresh calls for privatisation of the refineries. But operators noted that if the refineries would be sold at this stage, it are complete loss to the country. They said that the potential investors that would bid for the refineries would so much under-price them that it would add no meaningful contribution to the country’s revenue base.

    Besides, they noted that some unpatriotic Nigerians would use fronts to buy them (refineries) at give away prices and later begin to make enormous profits from them. What the Federal Government has decided to do, is bring the refineries and some oil and gas national assets as well as the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to form the national oil company post-PIB, which will be private-sector run and also listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

     

    Downstream

    The downstream sector witnessed some hiccups especially in distribution of products resulting in fuel scarcity which was caused primarily by refusal of marketers to import fuel as expression of discontentment for the over N200 billion owed them by the Federal Government in subsidy refunds. The fuel scarcity was worsened by vandalisation of major distribution pipelines.

     

    Upstream

    The non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has continued to shut out fresh investments into the exploration and production segment of the oil industry. The undue rise in crude oil theft has continued to dampen investment prospects and oil companies especially Shell is adversely affected.

     

    Expectations

    Stakeholders in the industry expect the Minister of Petroleum Resources to explore avenues and reasons to convince the National Assembly to see the need to pass the PIB. It is the belief of the stakeholders that the passage of the bill would drastically reduce the corruption in the downstream through the enthronement of transparent business process and global best practices. The bill is expected to make the multinationals and other exploration and production companies to take definite stand on commitment to fresh investments.

    The minister is also expected to explore other models that would entrench stability in fuel supply that will enable motorists to drive into a retail outlet at any time across the country and buy fuel without queuing.

    “Other expectations include tangible value creation in the industry, which will result in increased employment of Nigerians in the industry, increased skills acquisition by Nigerians, sustainable technology transfer and transparent practices that would ensure safety and health of Nigerians especially those in producing communities and safe environment.”

     

    Scorecard

    The minister had commented on provisions of the PIB. She said the new PIB was drafted with equity in mind and that the concerns of the international oil companies were taken into consideration so as to engender a win-win situation for Nigeria as well as stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

    Besides, to guard against reoccurrence of what happened in the past when the PIB was bogged down by allegations of forgery and different versions said to be in circulation, Alison-Madueke said the new PIB was imbued with security features and tamper proof attributes. She said apart from having watermarks bearing her own handwriting on every page, the draft bill is locked in a code such that no one can add to or remove anything from it without the code. “All these features are designed to secure the document to avoid the type of duplication that led to the emergence of fake versions of the old PIB, which created confusion in the National Assembly.

    She said her ministry last year took extra-ordinary measures to achieve sufficiency in gas supply to power stations to meet the Federal Government’s desire to ensuring improved electricity supply. Within the period, she declared a 12-month gas supply emergency plan designed to address the challenges of gas to power.

    “Delivery of gas to assure sufficient, uninterrupted supply to existing, as well as new thermal generating plants has been a special focus area of mine and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Up to recent times, gas supply to power plants outstripped demand to the extent that significant volumes of available gas remained unutilised on a daily basis. However a close analysis of the supply chain has revealed that over the last 10 years or so, there has been significant misalignment between power projects and gas supply sources,” she said.

    The efforts to strengthen the capacity and roles of the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria Limited (GACN), which is a DPR-regulated company of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with responsibility for gas sourcing and allocation, as well as operator of the commercial framework of the Gas Master Plan, is also a milestone.

    In addition to its traditional gas demand management role which includes processing requests from gas buyers, managing gas supply/demand allocation, as well as facilitating Gas Supply Aggregation Agreement (GSAA) negotiations, the GACN was mandated to achieve the following: identifying gas sources/suppliers and designing incentives for accelerated domestic gas delivery; driving the implementation of the findings of the Emergency Gas Committee, which focused on short and medium term gas supply but on a sustained basis; and ensuring integration as well as alignment between gas demand and supply to ensure robustness of longer term gas supply to power. It is also geared towards providing implicit data to enable the DPR to be more proactive in compelling suppliers to meet domestic gas supply obligations, among others.

    The completion of critical pipelines, such as the 27kmX24 inch gas supply pipeline from Itoki to Olorunshogo via Ewekoro in Ogun State, the 56kmX24inch Escravos-Warri gas pipeline, which doubled the pipeline capacity and enhanced gas evacuation from Escravos as well as the 130kmX36inch Oben to Geregu pipeline, improved electricity supply as a result of steady gas supply.