The Nigerians National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it transferred the sum of N128.40billion into the federation account in August.
The Corporation disclosed this in its monthly Financial and Operational report released in Abuja on Wednesday.
It said that between August 2017 and August 2018, the federation and joint ventures (JV) received the sum of N879.02billion and N651.4billion respectively.
The NNPC explained that the Federation Crude Oil and Gas Revenue, Federation Crude Oil and Gas lifting, were classified into Equity Export and Domestic crude.
It explained that this crude were lifted and marketed by corporation and the proceeds remitted into the Federation Account.
It noted that Equity Export receipts, after adjusting for Joint Venture Cash Calls, were paid directly into the Federation Account domiciled in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The corporation explained that domestic crude oil of 445,000 bpd was allocated for refining to meet domestic products supply, and payments were effected to the Federation Account by NNPC.
This, it said was done after adjusting crude and product losses and pipeline repairs and management costs incurred during the period.
On the crude oil and gas export sales, the report noted that sales for the month of August stood at 470 million dollars.
According to the report, the sales indicate an upsurge of about 78million dollars in relation to July oil and gas export figures of 391.91million dollars.
It further indicated that crude oil export sales contributed 337.62million dollars which represented 71.83 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with 283.43million dollars contribution in the previous month.
“Export gas sales during the period amounted to 132.38million dollars.
“The August 2017 to August 2018 crude oil and gas transactions involved crude oil and gas export worth 5.26billion dollars,” it said.
The report explained that based on the above sales figures, a total export receipt of 450.24million dollars was recorded in August 2018 as receipt against 382.65million dollars in July 2018.
“Contribution from crude oil during the period, amounted to 336.43 million dollars, while gas and miscellaneous receipt stood at 101.33million dollars and 12.48million dollars respectively,” the report noted.
A further breakdown of the figures showed that out of the export receipts, 142.31million dollars was remitted to the Federation Account.
The sum of 307.93million dollars was remitted to fund the JV cost recovery for the month of August, 2018 to guarantee current and future production.
“Total export crude oil and gas receipt for the period August 2017 to August 2018 stood at 5.23billion dollars out of which 3.74 billion dollars was transferred to JV Cash Call as first line charge and the balance of 1.49 billion dollars paid into the Federation Account,” it added.
NAN
The $3.7 billion gas development agreement between oil giant Shell and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) alongside two other companies, is set to transform Nigeria’s midstream oil sector and boosting power generation in the long run.
The deal is part of Nigeria’s efforts to deal with a looming domestic market shortage of the fuel.
The seven projects will add some 3.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the Nigerian market to avoid a shortage that has been forecast for 2020. The reserves of seven fields to be developed came in at a combined 17.7 trillion cubic feet.
The gas produced under the projects will be used to produce a target amount of 15 GW of electricity by that year.
In Nigeria, which was recently ranked the world’s poorest country in the world by the Brookings Institution, there are still millions of people without access to electricity, and the government is looking for ways to change this. Making better use of its local gas reserves is the option that makes the most sense.
At the same time, Nigeria, which is Africa’s top oil producer, has seen a decline in oil and gas investments resulting from the lack of government incentives and the delay in the approval of the Petroleum Industry Bill that would reflect an energy industry reform push.
The only substantial discovery in the last few years was Exxon’s Owowo, which holds estimated reserves of about a billion barrels of crude. This fact means that the country’s oil reserves have stagnated at 36.18 billion barrels, below the 37 billion barrels estimated in 2010 and a lot below a target of 40 billion barrels set for that year.
What worries Nigerian industry observers is that the investment decline has come despite the rebound in crude oil prices, while elsewhere investments have picked up. They have predominantly blamed the government for the delay in the passing of the crucial law and the lack of incentives to lure investors back in.
The Genesis
Hitherto, Nigeria, most populous nation in Africa, runs a mono-economy with about 90 percent of its revenue derived from sales of oil and oil-related products.
It would appear that successive governments of the largest economy in Africa have only paid lip service to create other avenues for the country to generate revenue in a bid to diversify the economy from the business of crude oil.
Recently, the country paid dearly for this negligence, which eventually plunged it into a recession, considered the worst of its kind in two decades. The reason for the negative downturn in the economy, which lasted one year was due mainly to the lackluster performance of crude oil in the global market which affected price negatively.
The case of Nigeria, however, became worse as production dropped as a result of criminal activities in the Niger-Delta region, dealing huge blow on revenue. And as a result, the executive arms of government from the federal to the local government level were unable to meet basic responsibilities like payment of wages and provision of basic infrastructures for the people.
The only feasible way out especially for states was to go neck deep into debt as most of them seek assistance from all sources possible to keep the structures of governance running while the gloomy days of the recession last.
Allegation
The state governments represented by their finance commissioners have been at loggerheads with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over remittance of proceeds from oil sales meant to be shared on a monthly basis through FAAC. Just in the month of June 2018, the states accused the NNPC of shortchanging them by N20 billion. According to the Chairman of the Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr. Mamood Yunusa, the NNPC only remitted N127billion as its contribution to what the FAAC was meant to share instead of the expected N147 billion.
But the commissioners for finance from the 36 states of the federation, who met in Abuja, insisted that the states would not accept anything short of the NNPC fully remitting N20 billion outstanding to the Federation Account.
Yunusa gave a breakdown of the components the remittance from NNPC for the month of May, which was shared in June.
“Based on all provable assumption parameters, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to remit N60 billion as Royalty based on the verbal admission of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and based on the MTEF (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) submitted by NNPC.
The Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) expected was to be 1.46 multiplied by 60 billion amounting to N87.6 billion, which means a total of N147 billion was expected in the federation account as against N127 billion paid by NNPC”, he said.
He also disclosed that at the inconclusive FAAC meeting recently,
“NNPC claimed it spent N3.5 billion on product leakages, pipeline vandalism, but the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), an agency that is supposed to keep such record, claimed ignorance of the amount.”
Yunusa also observed that the states got more revenue from NNPC when crude oil was $50 per/barrel, adding that they now receive far less when the commodity is almost $80/barrel, wondering why such should be the case.
He argued that as equal stakeholders in the business, NNPC owes the states a duty to Nigerians in the spirit of openness and transparency and by the Act that established it to be open and transparent to all stakeholders.
“States as stakeholders in a federation account are not expected to take NNPC’s account hook, line, and sinker but are allowed by law to ask questions for clarity.”
Meanwhile, according to the NNPC, average international Brent crude price has been on the increase since the beginning of 2018. Brent price rose to $69.08/b in January 2018 as against $64.37/b in December 2017. Over the last 12 months, the price has risen to about 26.57 percent. The continuing efforts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to stabilize the market and crude inventory pulls in the middle of healthy economic growth and improving oil demand supported the oil price.
The OPEC Reference Basket increased for the 5 consecutive months in January 2018 to average $66.85/b (an increase of 7.7 percent), the highest monthly average since November 2014. NYMEX WTI also increased by $5.71 to $63.66/b.
Financials
Group operating revenues for the months of December 2017 and January 2018 were N406.83 billion and N323.19 billion respectively. These represented 110.63 percent and 87.89 percent respectively of a monthly budget. Similarly, operating expenses for the same periods were N413.64 billion and N324.76 billion respectively, which also represented 130.22 percent and 102.24 percent of the budget for the months respectively.
This 30th edition of the report, which is the latest one published, indicated a trading deficit of N1.56 billion, which is comparatively lower than the previous month’s deficit of N6.81billion. This represented N5.25billion decrease in trading deficit compared to the December 2017 performance. This improvement is attributable to the decreased cost in upstream activities especially NPDC and a relative decrease in PPMC operation’s cost.
Antecedents
In December 2011, the Nigerian government permitted a forensic report conducted by KPMG to be published. The audit, commissioned by the Ministry of Finance following concerns over the NNPC’s transparency, detailed the NNPC’s sharp business practices, violation of regulations, illegal deductions of funds belonging to the state, and failure to account for several billions of naira that should go to the federation account.
Auditors found that between 2007 and 2009 alone, the NNPC over-deducted funds in subsidy claims to the tune of N28.5 billion. It has not been able to account for the sum ever since.
In May 2008, Willbros Group Inc, a US company, admitted to making corrupt payments totaling over $6.3 million to officials at the NNPC and its subsidiary NAPIMS, in return for assistance in obtaining and retaining contracts for work on the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS).
In July 2004, ABB Vetco Gray, a US company, and its UK subsidiary ABB Vetco Gray UK Ltd admitted to paying over $1 million in bribes to officials at NNPC subsidiary NAPIMS in exchange for obtaining confidential bid information and favorable recommendations from Nigerian government agencies.
In November 2013 after a report was published by Swiss Non-governmental advocacy organization – Erklärung von Bern – allegations of heavy fraud surfaced, placing the NNPC under suspicion of siphoning off $6.8 billion in crude oil revenues.
Unremitted Funds
On 9 December 2013, a letter from the then Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to the then President Goodluck Jonathan, dated 25 September 2013 revealed that the NNPC had not remitted over $49.8 billion proceeds of crude oil sales to the government surfaced. On 13 December 2013, NNPC responded that no money was missing. Reconciliation Committee (comprising representatives of (i) CBN (ii) NNPC (iii) DPR (iv) FIRS (v) OAGF (vi) The Budget Office of the Federation (vii) Federal Ministry of Finance (viii) Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources) was set up.
The reconciliation committee estimated unremitted funds at $10.8 billion on 18 December 2013, while CBN changed its claim to $12 billion. CBN then informed Senate committee on finance on 4 February 2014 that NNPC needed to account for $20 billion as the CBN could only confirm receipt of $47billion out of $67billion revenue for the period under review.
The then finance minister recommended the conduct of an independent Forensic Audit and PwC was officially appointed by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) to conduct a forensic audit into the allegations.
Among the conclusions reached by PwC at the end of their work, as stated in their report, which was made public are:
1. Total cash remitted into the Federation accounts in relation to crude oil liftings was $50.81billion and not $47billionn as earlier stated by the reconciliation committee for the period from January 2012 to July 2013.
2. NNPC has provided information on the difference leading to a potential excess remittance of $0.74 billion (without considering expected remittances from NPDC). Other indirect costs of $2.83 billion which were not part of the submission to the Senate Committee hearing have been defrayed to arrive at this position.
3. A major consideration centres on the ownership of oil and gas assets controlled by NPDC. Subject to additional information being provided, we estimate that the NNPC and NPDC should refund to the federation account a minimum of $1.48billion as summarised in the next page.
No staff of the NNPC or Ministry of Petroleum has so far been punished, though on Thursday, 20 February 2014, the whistle-blowing CBN Governor was suspended from office by the President.
Reactions
Expectedly, there have been arguments and counter-arguments after the FAAC meeting in June, which ended in a deadlock. Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Chairman of FAAC, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, while briefing journalists in Abuja after the meeting agreed with the position of Yunusa that governments comprising federal and states as major stakeholders in the business are entitled to their full benefits.
“For the purpose of this briefing, we operate the NNPC as a business. We have invested public capital in that business, and we have expectations of return. And when that return falls lower than our expectations, then the owners of this business, which in this case are the federal government and states, need to act,” she said.
Adeosun, like the state commissioners of finance, said the amount of money NNPC proposed as return on investment for the month of May was unacceptable.
A major bone of contention was the cost which the NNPC claimed it incurred in the business in the month of May, which reduced the amount it could remit to the federation account, which both the federal and state governments said was not realistic.
“NNPC claimed it spent N3.5 billion on product leakages, pipeline vandalism, but the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), an agency that is supposed to keep such record claimed ignorance of the amount,” Yunusa lamented.
The allegations notwithstanding, the helmsman at NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the corporation had done nothing wrong to be castigated.
He noted:
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been faithfully remitting all revenues accruing to it to the Federation Account.”
Baru told members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), who visited his office recently to carry out their oversight function that, allegations of non-remittance of funds had become a recurring decimal over the years. He attributed the problem to the nature of the corporation’s operations, which involved credit lines requiring constant audit and reconciliation.
“While the process of audit and reconciliation of accounts is on, a lot of accusations of short payments and non-remittances are usually traded, we endeavour to keep our cool on these allegations because we know that we remit whatever is due to the Federation Account,” he explained.
Baru acknowledged the disagreement between FAAC and NNPC over expenses incurred on generating revenue, stating that such allegations usually arose from disagreements over expenses borne by the corporation on behalf of the federal government.
But while the stalemate persists, one major concern is that civil servants in the 36 states will be the ones to bear the brunt as salaries might be delayed.
Adeosun was quick to express this concern, saying, “The consequence of this is that salaries might well be delayed in many states as a result of this.”
But the NNPC did not agree with the position of the Minister as a statement signed by its Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said it was mere excuse on the part of state governments to claim they will not be able to pay salaries due to issues of remittance.
The statement read:
“The governors’ (under the umbrella of the Governors’ Forum) antics of rushing to the press at the earliest opportunity of FAAC meeting are most unfortunate, using this as an unfortunate excuse not to pay salaries. “It is a ploy to set the public against the NNPC. Yet, it is the same Governors’ Forum that approved the cash call exit to restore investor confidence and boost crude oil production, thereby generating more revenue for them to share. Again, all crude oil proceeds go straight into the CBN and not to the NNPC accounts”.
Intervention
Adeosun, however, hinted that steps were being taken to address the matter. According to the Finance Ministry and the NNPC, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will mediate on the issue.
“Further negotiations and interactions are going on with the NNPC as we speak. However, we did brief both Mr. President and Mr. Vice President on the deadlock and asked for their support and their forbearance in this, because the consequence of this is that salaries might well be delayed in many states as a result of this,” Adeosun said.
Besides, the NNPC said it was taking proactive steps to settle the problem of undue expenses. On efforts by the NNPC to ensure that Joint Venture (JV) and Production Sharing Contract (PSC) partners do not run excessive bills at the expense of the nation, the GMD explained that apart from the establishment of an Efficiency Unit in the corporation to ensure value for money across all operations, NNPC had also done a lot in renegotiating contracts as well as benchmarking costs in keeping with international best practices, adding that the effort had yielded significant results in terms of reduction in the cost of crude oil production per barrel in the industry.
Solution
Meanwhile, economic experts believed that governors should not be too dependent on revenue sharing to pay salaries and execute projects in their respective states. Figures made available by the National Bureau of Statistics have shown that most of the states depend on FAAC to survive while little or nothing is done to generate revenue internally.
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) growth by the 36 states dropped to 16.12 percent from N801.95billion to N931.23billion in the fiscal year 2017. On the average, each state generated an IGR of N25.17billion monthly in 2017, compared to average debt profile of N90.5billion, which leaves each with an N65.3billion deficit in fiscal 2017.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, did not declare the $9,772,800 and £74,000 that was recovered from his guest house in Kaduna.
Yakubu The anti-graft agency told the court that Yakubu who was GMD of the NNPC between 2012 and 2014, stashed the “loot” which is over N3billion, in a fireproof safe inside the house. It said the foreign currencies were found after investigators at its Kano Zonal office, engaged an expert that cracked the code the defendant used to lock the safe.
EFCC brought one of its lead detectives in Kano State, Mr. Sambo Muazu, to testify before the court. In his Evidence-In-Chief, Muazu, told the court that he took statement from the ex-NNPC boss who he said later filled an EFCC assets declaration form. The witness who was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mr. Ben Ikani, said the defendant, while filing the form, failed to list the recovered monies among his assets.
Muazu said EFCC had upon its discovery of the funds, investigated some contracts that were signed while Yakubu was the GMD of NNPC. According to the witness,
“In 2015, we commenced investigation into two categories of contracts which were awarded by NNPC and its subsidiaries.
“The first category relates to Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) between NNPC’s subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited (AEDCL). The contract was signed between NPDC and AEDCL.
“The first SAA was on Oil Mining Lease (OML) 26, 30, 34, 40 and 42. The second SAA was on OML 60, 61, 62, and 63.
“The investigation was sequel to intelligence report received by the EFCC relating to suspicious fund transfers from AEDCL’s account in Nigeria to a sister company called Atlantic Energy Holdings (AEH)
“Also, additional transfers from Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited (AEBDL) to the same Atlantic Energy Holdings. The AHL’s accounts are based in Switzerland.
“There were also transfers from Atlantic Energy Holdings account in Switzerland to the Nigerian accounts of the two sister companies – AEDCL and AEBDL. “It was on the basis of these suspicious transactions that we commenced investigation.
“In the course of investigation, it became necessary to seek clarification from Engr. Andrew Yakubu. He was accordingly invited, and we interacted with him. And thereafter, we reduced the interaction into writing.
“The two SAA were executed between the end of 2011 to 2014 April, during which Engr. Andrew Yakubu was the Group Managing Director of NNPC. He was in office from June 2012 to August 2014.
“After our interaction and his statement recorded, he declared his assets sometime between July and August 2015.
“The EFCC has a standard assets declaration form. A copy of that form was given to Engr. Andrew Yakubu. He filled the form, declaring his assets.
“He was asked to declare his assets based on the allegations that the company Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept was allowed to lift crude oil worth over $1billion without fulfilling the necessary obligations on their path.
“It was on this basis that investigation was conducted and thereafter, some individuals were charged to court.”
Yakubu is answering to a six-count charge EFCC preferred against him. It will be recalled that the former NNPC boss was undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom when the EFCC, acting on a tip-off, raided his guest house situated at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, and recovered the alleged loot which was in foreign currencies.
The defendant who was granted N300million bail with two sureties in the like sum, earlier asked the high court to order EFCC to return the seized money to him, insisting that it was part of monetary gifts he received on various occasions.
A Federal High Court in Kano had on February 13, 2017, granted interim order forfeiting the recovered monies to the federal government. FG had in the charge marked FHC/ABJ/ CR/ 43/ 2017, alleged that Yakubu failed to declare the money in the assets form he filed at the EFCC on August 18, 2015, and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 27(3) (a) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under section 27(3) (c) of the same Act.
In count three and four of the charge dated March 9, FG, alleged that Yakubu had between 2012 and 2014, without going through a financial institution, received cash payments of $9, 772, 800 and £74, 000, and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1 of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under section 16(2) of the Act.
In count five and six, FG alleged that Yakubu had with intent to avoid a lawful transaction under the law, transferred at various times in Kaduna, aggregate sums of $9,772, 800 and £74, 000, when he reasonably ought to know that the said funds formed part of the proceed of some form of unlawful activity and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 7(4) (b) (ii) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, 2006.
Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has given reason why petroleum marketers allegedly responsible for hoarding fuel during the Yuletide season can’t be punished by government.
The Minister said there was no single evidence that marketers were hoarding petroleum products and as such, they could not be punished.
Kachikwu made the disclosure after a Federal Government delegation led by the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, and fuel marketers as well the heads of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service, and representatives of other paramilitary services met at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting, Kachikwu said the parley was not a fault-finding one but meant to find a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity.
According to the Minister, “This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December.
“We want to find a lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions tomorrow (Wednesday).
“The thing is even the Nigerians, who have suffered, will want to be sure that we find a lasting solution and find evidential basis upon which to punish people.
“This is a democratic government. I don’t have one (evidence) yet; if you have one, I will like to have it.”
In order to halt the untold hardship presently affecting Nigerians due to the ongoing fuel crisis, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Thursday, directed the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to cut short its recess and immediately convene a meeting with industry stakeholders.
According to the report by Punch, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa, revealed this today in Abuja.
Following the directive, the Committee has summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Maikanti Baru and other relevant stakeholders in the petroleum sector to a crucial meeting on Thursday, January 4, 2018.
He further added that the meeting, which will be held in the Senate Hearing Room 221 and its proceedings aired live on the Nigerian Television Authority, is meant to address the lingering fuel scarcity bedevilling the nation in the last few weeks with a view to putting a complete stop to the unsavoury development.
The Senate, which is presently on Christmas and New Year break is billed to resume Committee work for budget defence on January 9, and commence plenary on January 16.
Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, on Thursday attributed the ongoing fuel scarcity to shortfall in supply of petroleum products across the country.
He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was making efforts to ensure that queues at filling stations disappeared in a couple of days.
Speaking during a news briefing in Abuja, the Minister assured that there was adequate storage facility for imported products.
Kachikwu added that emergency measures were in place to ensure that the products were available during the Yuletide and post-January.
He said, “Presently, queues in Lagos have reduced. We know that Lagos, Abuja, Benue, Port Harcourt were among the worst-hit areas.
“Benue has been dealt with; Port Harcourt is quite moderated. Apart from these areas, other places in the country are probably liquid.
“The major problem is the gap in terms of volume, because NNPC is the only one importing the product to the country.”
The minister further disclosed that four vessels laden with petroleum products would “berth in a few days and a total of 20 cargoes are also expected with petroleum products’’.
Demands for Nigeria’s crude oil blends have remained quite high from countries in Western Europe and Asia, a report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed.
According to the July 2017 edition of the monthly financials and operations report of the NNPC which was released yesterday in Abuja by the corporation, Western European countries like the Netherlands, Spain, France, and Britain as well as India and Indonesia in the Asian and Far East have in the last one year, between May 2016 and May 2017, bought more of Nigeria’s crude oil.
An appendage to the main report stated that within the periods, about 240 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil were sold to countries in Western Europe 177 million barrels to Asian and Far East countries, 106 million barrels to African countries, 92 million barrels to North America, and 18 million barrels to South American countries.
It said South Africa, Ivory Coast and Togo were the dominant importers from Africa with about 42 million barrels, 17 million barrels, and 12 million barrels imported respectively by them within the period.
Similarly, the report disclosed that within the month of July this year, the corporation made loss of about N12 billion from its operations. It attributed the loss to the shutdown of its Kaduna and Warri refineries as well as the unavailability of some units at its Port Harcourt refinery. Operational difficulties at both the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) and Que Iboe and Bonga terminals were also linked to the July deficit.
“The 24th publication recorded a trading deficit of N11.87 billion which is an additional loss of N6.68 billion relative to the previous month’s deficit of N5.19 billion.
“The unimpressive performance of the downstream is mainly due to high crude oil inventory and the shutdowns of KRPC and WRPC during the period; also the unavailability of some of the major secondary units in PHRC in July 2017 accounted for the non-production of some light ends product with the corresponding increase in OPEX as a result of several maintenance interventions.
“Other drags to this month performance includes shut down of Trans Niger Pipeline and production shut-in to Que Iboe terminal and Bonga terminal,” the report said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has disclosed that the NNPC has paid off about N80 billion freight bills owed them by the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).
NARTO President, Kassim Ibrahim Bataiya, stated this when his association paid a courtesy visit on NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, in Abuja.
A statement from the Group General Manager, Public Affairs of NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated this.
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria (TUCN): Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (Total E&P Nig Ltd) and Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) are offering the 2018 NNPC/TOTAL National Merit Scholarship programme to Nigerian Undergraduates.
The Total Scholarship scheme is aimed at promoting academic excellence and quality manpower development in the Country.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be a Registered FULL TIME undergraduate in a recognized Nigerian University.
- Applicants must be a certified 100 or 200 level student at the time of application.
- Applicants must have a 2.50 CGPA of 5-point scale, or equivalent.
Application Process
To apply for this scholarship CLICK HERE.
The following documents are required when applying:
- Recent Passport Photograph
- Certificate or Proof of Origin
- Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE)
- UTME result
- JAMB/University Admission Letter
- 1st Year Result showing CGPA
Application Deadline
Applications will close on October 31, 2017. Selection tests will hold on December 2, 2017 at designated centers nationwide which will be communicated to shortlisted candidates only. Candidates will fully bear the cost transportation to test venue as no reimbursement shall be made.
Candidates are therefore advised to choose a test center closest to them.
For more information visit the Official Page
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura has said that the nation’s oil and gas sector can be free controversies currently rocking the sector if President Muhammad Buhari steps down as the Minister of Petroleum.
The Senator, said this on Channels Television programme, Sunday Politics and also recommends that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru should be suspended for a thorough investigation into the allegations.
Alasoadura said if President Buhari steps aside as Minister of Petroleum it will enable him to attend to other issues while Nigeria’s oil and gas which he described as the sector generating the bulk of the nation’s income experience undelayed progress.
“Judging from the daunting problem facing our country today, I believe Mr President should devote more time to other things and let an independent person run the ministry of Petroleum Resources and be able to report to him if it is two times a week or weekly or even bi-weekly. As much as possible, let other people handle this ministry because that is where the bulk of the income of this country comes from and we cannot afford to have any
“As much as possible, let other people handle this ministry because that is where the bulk of the income of this country comes from and we cannot afford to have any pile-up of the things that should be done in the ministry quickly,” he said.
When asked if Kachikwu and Baru should also step aside, Alasoadura said the men need to step aside for thorough investigation to be conducted into the corruption allegations.
“I believe so; especially the man who is doing the day-to-day running of the organisation. In order not to hinder or hamper that investigation, because records will be needed and even from the date of the leakage of that letter, I think action should have been taken to ensure that nothing will be missing when investigations start
“So, I think the two of them should be asked to step aside and when the investigation is over, whoever is culpable will go and whoever is not culpable, will continue with his duties.”
Kackiwku had earlier in a letter to Buhari alleged that the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru awarded contracts amounting to $26 billion without following due process.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Chevron Joint Venture has commenced Mass Deworming Programme that will cover 60,000 pupils in Ondo State.
The programme, which will cover pupils in three local governments of Idanre, Okitipupa and Owo, was flagged off at St. Paul Mega Primary School, OdodeIdanre, and witnessed by stakeholders in the local government, the State
Ministries of Education and Health, and the wife of the Ondo State
governor, Mrs. Betty Anyanwun-Akeredolu.
The programme was the second phase of the deworming exercise as the first phase was implemented in 2013 during which 80,000 pupils were dewormed in Akure North, Akure South and Ilaje Local Government Areas.
Speaking at the occasion, the General Manager Policy, Government and Public Affairs (PGPA), Mr. Esimaje Brikinn, said the exercise was one of the initiatives through which the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture seeks to uplift the health and development of Nigerians especially the
children. Brikinn, who was represented by the Director of Government Affairs, Senator Gbenga Aluko, said that exercise, targeted at a
total of 60,000 children is designed to make them healthier as
the parasites (worm) which snapped their energies are destroyed.
“In this programme, the target children would be given safe and effective medicines produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Limited to eliminate infecting worms while there is also a health education
aspect to ensure that children are taught how to avoid re-infection
through personal hygiene.
Speaking at the flag off ceremony, wife of the Ondo State governor, Anyanwu-Akeredolu observed that the deworming exercise
would help grow the health status of the school children while
soliciting for proper hygienic environment among the people.
The First Lady who commended the contributions of the joint partner
venture (NNPC/Chevron) to the development of the health sector of the
state, also pleaded personal hygiene among the school pupils.
The State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Femi Agagu said the deworming
exercise would help the children to develop well and boost their
learning capabilities in the society.
”This great intervention from NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture will give each of these pupils the opportunity of a good future because the
future of a child depends on sound health and education.”
Also, his counterparts from the Ministry of Health, Dr. Wahab
Adegbenro, argued that worm infestation was a leading cause of ill health among school age children mostly in developing countries.
Adegbenro, however, solicited the need for the children to be
deworm every three months in order to improve their health wise and
growth.
On Wednesday, excerpts of a letter written to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, dated August 30, 2017, leaked to the press.
In the letter, Kachikwu accused the GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru of insubordination and humiliation.
Kachikwu, in the letter, said Baru had been sidelining him and the corporation’s board (of which Kachikwu is chairman), making appointments and awarding contracts without due consultations.
The full letter has been released to the press.
Read the letter below:
His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR
President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
The Federal Republic of Nigeria
Presidential Villa Abuja
Your Excellency,
RE: MATTERS OF INSUBORDINATION AND LACK OF ADHERENCE TO DUE PROCESS PERPETUATED BY THE GMD NNPC – DR. BARU
FELICITATIONS
Let me start by welcoming you back to the country and by thanking God for your recovery from ill health. I join millions of Nigerians who rejoice and thank God for grating you the grace of healing and strength to continue the good work you have done for Nigeria in your long illustrious career in public service. I would have wanted to come personally after receiving you at the airport to facilitate with you and discuss matters herein contained, however, I have been unable to secure an appointment to see you despite very many attempts.
VARIOUS ACTIVITIES OF THE GMD
Mr. President, yesterday like many other Nigerians. I resumed work confronted by many publications of massive changed within NNPC. Like the previous reorganizations and reposting done since Dr. Baru resumed as GMD. I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments. This is so despite being Minister of State of Petroleum and Chairman NNPC Board.
The Board of NNPC which you appointed and which has met every month since its inauguration and, which by the statues of NNPC is meant to review these planned appointments and postings, was never briefed. Members of the Board learned of these appointments from the pages of social media and the press release of NNPC.
At the minimum and like all other Parastatals being supervised by me at the Ministry have continued to do, and in compliance with the proper governance standards expected of a serious public institution, these executive actions by NNPC were supposed to benefit from mine and the Board’s input prior to presentation to you. I need to add that backdoor and present same to the acting president were met with a request that this be discussed with me. This was never done.
Indeed, in anticipation of vacancies that would arise from retiring senior executives of NNPC, I wrote the GMD A letter requesting that we both have prior review of the proposed appointments. This was to enable me to present same to the Board or give an anticipatory approval and then review with the Board later (Appendix 1). I wrote to the GMD given previous happenstance of this nature, in addition, thereafter, I called the GMD to a private meeting where I discussed these issues. Needless to say that, not only did he not give my letter the courtesy of a reply, he proceeded to announce the appointments without consultation or Board concurrence.
Mr. President please not that there is a Board Services Committee whose function is to review potential appointments and terminations of Senior Staff prior to implementation. This committee was also not consulted.
The above is just one of the many occurrences of disrespectful experiences I have encountered with the GMD as your Minister of State.
CONTRACTS
The legal and procedural requirements are that all contracts above $20m would need to be reviewed and approved by the Board of NNPC. Mr. President over one year of Dr. Baru’s tenure, no contract has been run through the Board. This is despite my diplomatic encouragement to Dr. Baru to do so to avoid wrongfully painting you as a President who does not allow Due Process to thrive NNPC. Given the history of malpractices and the public perception of NNPC as having a history of non-transparency (Appendix 2: NEITI report), the NNPC Tenders Board (NTB) cannot be the final clearance authority for contracts it enters into.
The NTB which is a collection of top level NNPC executives and COOs, with the GMD as Chairman, cannot continue to be the final approval authority for multi-million dollar contracts and transactions involving NNPC to the exclusion of the Board. Board members have singularly and collectively raised these issues to no avail. (Appendix 3: Letter from Vice President on Expanded Contract)
The following major contracts were never reviewed by or discussed with me Board of NNPC:
The Crude Term contracts- value at over $10bn
The DSDP contracts- value over $5bn
The AKK pipeline contract- value approximately $3bn
Various financing allocation funding contracts with the NOCs – value over $3bn
Various NPDC production service contracts – value at over $3bn–$4bn
There are many more Your Excellency, in most of these activities, the explanation of the GMD is that you are the Minister of Petroleum and your approvals were obtained. However, the correct governance should be that the Minister of the State and the Board review the transaction and give their concurrence prior to presentation to you. As I 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 that the Parastatals which I supervise as Minister of State or Chair of their Board are able to go through these contractual and mandatory governances processed and yet NNPC is exempt from these?
I know that bravado management style runs contrary to the cleansing operations you engaged me to catty out at the inception of your administration. This is also not in consonance with your renowned standards of integrity.
WORKING RELATIONSHIP
Your Excellency, even though the appointments of the other Parastatals Heads in my Ministry were made without my input. I have maintained a cordial and respectful relationship with all. Parastatals under my supervision have continued to excel in their respective areas and adhere to mandatory governance processes. However, my working relationship with GMDs has been fraught with humiliation, sidelining and campaigns of character defamation against me. This is particularly frustrating given many contributions I have made to the growth and stability of the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry through the many policies I have introduced August 2015.
If NNPC is considered and known to be one of the Parastatals under the Ministry, why does the GMD refuse to report into my office or to the Board on the serious issues such as above especially given that I have been by Your Grace, the Minister overseeing these Parastatals for two years?
Your Excellency, even at the time when we were unfortunate to have you away to England for a medical checkup, the situation remained the same.
MEETINGS
The matter of collaborative meeting is another issue altogether. When I call for meetings, the GMD chooses which meetings he wishes to attend and those he chooses to send subordinate. He sends such subordinates without the courtesy of a call to explain his absence. The unattended meetings are in the majority. In all of 2017, I have been able only to get him to have one on one meetings with me about four to five times.
At inception, I instituted a Monthly Parastatals review meeting with Head of Agencies and another with the all the Senior management in all the Parastatals. GMD objected to his Senior Staff coming to the Joint Senior Management meetings. He argued that this was overreaching his territory. He was only comfortable with the Monthly of all Heads of Agencies meetings which he has only attended a few times. I have had to carry on with the rest of the Ministry.
Despite being Chairman of NNPC Board. I have tried to manage the bad perception created by GMDs blatant insubordination and disrespectful attitude. Particularly I have worked hard to avoid being seen as pretty and meddlesome.
FEAR CULTURE
The effect of the attitude of the GMD and the sidelining of the Board is that there is a fear culture in NNPC. The open administration I introduced, with your support in our first year of pushing reforms, has been completely eroded. The essence of this innovation was to drive great working interface and interaction amongst all Parastatals in the Petroleum sector. Other Parastatals have benefitted from this.
NNPC staff are afraid of contacting me to avoid being punished, sidelined in appointments and targeted. Indeed, the key factor for growth and advancement in NNPC of today is to avoid the Minister of State’s Office.
VARIOUS ACCUSATIONS
In order to convince to your Excellency of the need to sideline me, I am sure I have been labeled as being.
I.Anti-North
II.Corrupt
III. In Collusion With Militants
Some faceless blogs have even had the audacity to circulate such rumors. Nothing Your Excellency can be further from the truth. I mention this because this will be the likely response you will receive to this attempt I am making to alert you on the state of affairs under the GMD’s leadership.
These accusations are baseless.
I. ANTI-NORTH
First, all my appointments were generated with key inputs from all the COOs of NNPC and were balanced and based strictly on skills, experience, drive, and ethnic balancing for senior management positions. Mid-level positions were sole suggestions of the COOs. Let me say for the records that I am a completely detribalized Nigerian and I have lived my formative years in the East, West, North, and South-South part of the Country. My Father was a Federal High Court Judge in most parts of the North. My siblings and I benefited from growing up in Kano. In addition, I have resided and worked in Rivers, Delta, Lagos, Oyo, Enugu, Anambra, etc. I have no reason to be anti-North because in my working career I have found that good and skillful people abound everywhere in our Nation.
II.CORRUPTION
I have done nothing in my time at NNPC or the Ministry that is corrupt or laced with any such intent. In my time as GMD, all policies and contracts were generated by the Heads of Division, approved by COOs, passed through NTB and (in the absence of a Board at the time) I received your approvals, I have had no relationship with any one of or any transaction in my period that was product of a personal deal or an arrangement, if anyone benefited from NNPC contracts, they did so on their merit and I rarely participated in those contractual processes except to review them.
Anyone peddling any contrary information is resorting to cheap blackmail.
III.MILITANTS AND SECURITY:
I took on the issue of security headlong because it was the primary causative factor for production that declined from 2.2 mpbd to 1mpbd at our lowest point (November 2016). At great risk to my life. I visited militant camps, coordinated with our security apparatus, organized the four of the HEVP to several frontline states and worked with PANDEF and other groups to bring calm and increase production and some measures of stability to what it is today.
I have never betrayed the trust you placed on me. I did not deploy any public financial resources to achieve the results in the Niger Delta region. Most times I have utilized my personal resources and goodwill accumulated over the many years prior to my appointment to achieve these far reaching results and of course all these were with collaborations with Agencies of the government (Office of the VP, DSS, NSA, etc.)
I dare mention that the blueprint of these engagements were discussed with and approved by you.
Given the sensitivity of my position, I remain one of the most tracked officers of your government, so if there is any truth to these rumors, you would have known.
Mr. President you took me from the private sector where I left an enviable track record of performance and integrity spanning over 25 years rising to the highest positions in multinational oil sector organization. I came to this job with the zeal to change the sector. Measurable progress has been made and more would have been achieved but for the challenges I have listed above.
THE FUTURE OF THE OIL INDUSTRY
Mr. President I have been on a race to stabilize and move the industry to the next phase. Timing is critical. The sector is also in a critical state where only innovative ideas can stop the alarming impact of the fall of oil prices on the National Income. The innovations that we have developed and stated implementing in the Downstream, Upstream, Policy generation and Niger Delta Security have enabled the sector to stabilize slightly. However, truth is that given the global challenge in this sector, we must aggressively pursue out of the box ideas on rejuvenating this sector, getting the best yield and increasing our earnings from oil and gas. What this means is that Parastatals in the Ministry and all CEOs of these Parastatals must be aligned with the policy drive of the supervising Ministry to allow the sector register of the growth that has eluded it for many years. To do otherwise or to exempt any of the Parastatals would emplace a stunted growth industry.
PRAYERS
My prayers most humbly and respectfully are:
That we save NNPC and the oil industry from collapse arising from the above non-transparent practices and empower the Board you inaugurated to do the needful.
That you save the office of the Minister of State from further humiliation and disrespect by compelling all Parastatals to submit to oversight regulatory mandate and proper supervision which I am supposed to manage on your behalf.
You kindly instruct the GMD to effectively leave NNPC to run as a proper institution and report out along due process lines to the Board and that your Excellency instructs that all reviews be done with the Minister of State prior to your decision.
That to set the right examples, you approve that recently announced reorganization changes be suspended until the GMD, myself, and the Board have made relevant input to same. This will send a clear signal of process and transparency.
That your Excellency encouraged joint presentation meetings between heads of Parastatals and the Minister of State to you so as to encourage a culture of working together and implant discipline in the hierarchy.
These in my view, Mr. President, will provide you balanced analysis on issues and avoid exposing the exalted office of Mr. President to ridicule. It will also reduce nonproductive, unsubstantiated rumor peddling.
Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunities given me to serve and I wish you continued full recovery. I remain loyal and very proud of you Sir.
Mr. President kindly accept the assurances of my highest esteem and loyalty.
Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu
Honorable Minister of State Petroleum Resources.
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