The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ribadu

  • There is hope for Nigeria – Ribadu

    There is hope for Nigeria – Ribadu

    The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday assured Nigerians that there was hope for the country to overcome its multiple problems.

    He gave the assurance in Ilorin while speaking with journalists when he paid a condolence visit to Senator Bukola Saraki, on the death of his father Olusola Saraki.

    “I must say that there is hope for Nigeria to overcome its multiple challenges. Everybody is working tirelessly to revamp the country’s political, socio-economic and security problems,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Ribadu as saying during the visit.

    He called for concerted efforts and prayers by Nigerians for peace and tranquility in the country.

    “There is need for us all to rise up and ensure that security and other challenges facing the nation become things of the past.

    “It is through collective efforts that we can achieve this goal,” he said.

    On his committee report, Ribadu said that the report would be implemented in order to re-shape the oil industry.

    He said that the committee considered the interest of Nigerians and the nation while writing the report.

    He described late Saraki as a philanthropist whose passion was to ensure the well-being of his people.

    He urged the children of the deceased to emulate the good deeds of their father and uplift the welfare of their people.

    In a related development, Igbo residents in Ilorin, Kwara, would hold a special prayer session for the late Saraki on November 22.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the President-General, Igbo Community Association in Kwara, Sir. Truelove Njoku.

    The statement directed Igbos in the 16 local government areas of the state to close their shops between 6 a.m. till noon on November 22.

    “This is to enable us to stay at home and pray for the repose of the soul of this great and compassionate man, and as a mark of respect.

    “The late Saraki was a detribalised man and accommodated everybody in the state,” the statement said.

     

  • Ribadu task force report: ACN says Fed Govt acted in bad faith

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Federal Government of acting in bad faith in the way and manner it has treated the report of the Petroleum Revenue Task Force.

    In a statement issued in Benin yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also said the patently tactless action of a presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in rubbishing the report and, by extension the members of the task force, will make credible Nigerians to be wary of serving in similar panels in future.

    “The fact that the Federal Government has not come out to refute Dr. Okupe’s crude comments on the report is an indication that the position he enunciated publicly on the report represents that of the government. The task force did not complete its assignment and accusing its chairman of disinformation and politicisation amounts to preparing the ground for the dumping of the report,” ACN said.

    The party said the treatment meted out to the task force by a self-acclaimed ‘’attack lion’’ of the presidency is the worst blow any government has dealt its own panel, “and confirms ACN’s earlier statement that the Federal Government deliberately set a booby trap for the task force by the suspicious timing of the appointments it gave to two of its members, Steven Oronsaye and Bernard Otti, in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).”

    It went on: “Unfortunately, despite its angry reaction to our earlier statement, the government is yet to convince us otherwise. If anything at all, it has gone ahead to make our statement look prescient.

    “We are not even talking of the merits or demerits of the task force’s report, but of the way the chairman and members of the task force (minus the two dissenting ones) have been savaged. This is a task force that has as members several Senior Advocates of Nigeria and a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among others.

    “Even if the government feels the report is inconclusive, could it not have set up a panel to review the findings? Is it not also the prerogative of the government to even leave the report to gather dust, if it does not agree with the findings, instead of publicly ridiculing its own task force?

    “The unprecedented outpouring of public opprobrium on the task force by the same government that set it up makes a mockery of governance, and does no credit to the Jonathan administration, which is always quick to accuse the opposition of insulting its principal. A government earns respect by its actions. It is futile demanding it (respect).”

  • Ribadu committee, oil politics and test of leadership

    In unseemly disagreement broke out on Friday among members of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force as the committee chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu submitted the final report to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, and President Goodluck Jonathan. The disagreement, which took place at the Presidential Villa, was triggered by two committee members, Mr Stephen Oronsaye and Ben Oti, who both tried to rubbish the report by describing it as one-sided, hasty and full of inaccuracies. But Ribadu and other committee members stood their ground and described the two dissenters as compromised board members of the NNPC who absented themselves from the committee’s meetings since the special panel was constituted in February.

    The substance of the quarrel was that the report was too harsh in its conclusion that Petroleum ministers since 2008, including Alison-Madueke, gave out seven discretionary oil licences, and cannot account for the $183m (N28.73bn) signature bonuses which the government should have received. The report also contained even harsher verdicts on the unprofitable way Nigeria’s oil and gas resources have been managed over the years. Though the president tried to assuage passion by calling on the dissenters to prepare a minority report, and the Petroleum minister also indicated she was neutral in the whole affair, it was clear to everyone that the disagreement suggested that far worse scandal lurks in the Petroleum ministry. In fact, Ribadu was so peeved by both the scale of indiscretions in the management of the oil industry and the attempts to cover them up that he took the unusual step of telling the public that aspects of the report leaked by Reuters to the world last week were emphatically no misrepresentation at all.

    I rejoice that the unseemly exchange happened before newsmen and in the presence of the president. As Ribadu hoped in his remarks during the presentation of the panel’s report, let us all believe that the government will have the courage to tackle the rot in the oil industry and rejigger its modus operandi. I am, however, privately pessimistic. Were it to be any other civilized country, the former oil ministers to whom the Ribadu report pointed the finger of guilt would be preparing their briefs to defend their integrity, and the current minister would be preparing to step aside.

    The open disagreement in the Council Chambers on Friday is also a testimony to the consistency of Ribadu himself. I once described the former EFCC chairman as too much in haste, too ambitious, and his judgement sometimes questionable, even wondering whether he could ever be a level-headed president were he to assume that office. But there is no question that he is a patriot and is unalterably committed to the stability and progress of his country. I was worried early in the year, when he was appointed to handle that special assignment, that the probe exercise was government’s gimmick to buy time over its fuel price hike misadventure, and to exploit the credibility of Ribadu. It is a relief that the former EFCC boss has acquitted himself well, though he sometimes finds it hard to disguise his inquisitorial tendency.

    Since his first public appointment, Ribadu has repeatedly given indication that he has the character of true leadership. It is not just honesty that fails most Nigerians when they face grave and impossible tests; what often fails them is the courage to look power in the face and say and do what is right. No matter how much the Jonathan president wants to dither over this report, I rate Ribadu’s performance as exemplary, and recommend his fearlessness and patriotism to aspiring leaders.

  • Ribadu committee, two others to submit report

    Ribadu committee, two others to submit report

    •Presidency: we’ll not spare anyone

     

    President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Nuhu Ribadu Committee on Petroleum Revenue to submit its report on Friday.

    A statement by the presidential media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the directive is to show the administration’s commitment to transparency, probity, and accountability in the petroleum sector.

    The Committee, set up in February, is required to, among others, determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes and royalties, etc,) due and payable to the Federal Government and to take necessary steps to collect debts due and owed.

    The committee is also to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms for oil industry operators.

    The presentation of the Committee’s report will take place on Friday at the State House, Abuja.

    Also, President Jonathan is expected to receive two other reports on the petroleum industry.

    They are the committee established to design a new corporate governance code for ensuring full transparency, good governance and global best practices in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil industry corporations with Dotun Sulaiman as Chairman.

    The other committee, headed by Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, is to conduct a high-level assessment of the nation’s refineries and recommend ways of improving their efficiency and commercial viability.

    The Presidency said it would prosecute those indicted in the report.

    It warned that the Federal Government is determined to fight corruption at all levels.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the Presidency has assured that there would be no cover up in the findings of the Ribadu Report.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the President has neither seen nor received any copy of the Ribadu Committee Report.

    “Essentially, what appears to have been irregularly released prematurely to the media is a draft copy, which still requires full accent of all members of the committee and clarifications and due process from the originating ministry before the official handing over to the Presidency.

    “President Jonathan should be hailed for his personal resolve to fight institutionalised corruption in Nigeria.

    “He ordered the probe of the oil industry from 2002 – 2011, which also covers the tenure of his administration.

    “No President in our history has gone this far and this explains why the rot in our system has persisted.

    “The President approved the appointment of a well–known anti-corruption crusader, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu,who contested against him at the presidential poll on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    “It is also noteworthy that the Secretary of the Committee, Supo Sasore, was a former Attorney General of Lagos State in an ACN government.”

    Okupe said the President’s unwavering and commendable determination to fight corruption is demonstrated by his appointment of credible Nigerians, anti-corruption crusaders and members of the opposition in the committee.

    He also said his efforts has helped in exposing the fraud in the petroleum subsidy regime dug up by the Aig Imokhuede Committee and that the indicted persons are being tried in the courts.

    “For the purpose of clarity, President Jonathan’s resolve to fight corruption and dig out all the rot in the system should not be misconstrued or politicised by the opposition as if it is his administration that is guilty of corruption.

    “Rather, he should be commended for taking the step that will ultimately sanitise the policy and the system,” he said.

     

  • Jonathan orders submission of Ribadu committee’s report

    Jonathan orders submission of Ribadu committee’s report

    President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that a comprehensive report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force chaired by Malam Nuhu Ribadu, be presented to him this week.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.

    Abati said the directive was in furtherance of the administration’s commitment to transparency in the petroleum sector.

    The Special Adviser said the presentation of the committee’s report would take place on Friday, November 2, at 11 am, at the State House, Abuja.

    The News Agency of nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee was set up in February to, among other tasks, to verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes and royalties) due and payable to the Federal Government.

    It was also mandated to take all necessary steps to collect all debts due and owed, and to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms by oil industry operators.