As the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) national convention gathers momentum, a delegation of PDP youths from the twenty local government areas of Lagos State has thrown its weight behind an aspirant for the position of PDP National Youth Leader, Comrade Wolimoh Olajide.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation during a courtesy visit to his residence in Oworonshoki, Bariga, Lagos State, a youth mobilizer, Hon Oladapo Adeyemi stated that Comrade Olajide is the best man for the job at this period of the party’s history.
He added, “Olajide is an experienced man in the party who is aware that the task ahead of us is daunting. But as a unifier and trouble-shooter who hopes to rise above divisiveness, pettiness and partisan politics. I am convinced that the task is not insurmountable.”
“I am also convinced he is not going into the race neither for personal gains or selfish ambition, nor to promote partisan interests or mediocrity, but to prove he has the capacity to serve and inspire youths, and to further rebrand the image of our party PDP.”
In his brief address, Comrade Olajide appreciated the delegation for finding him worthy and promised never to relent in standing in support of Nigerian Youths at any time he has the opportunity irrespective of their party differences.
Olajide reiterated that PDP must zone the positions meant for youths to the youths and also listen to the youths as they believe that the near victory of PDP during last election was because of the position given to the youths, but the party failed because they never listened to the youths.
While encouraging the youths to work for the success of the Senator Ahmed Markarfi led party leadership, he added, “we must continue to reach out to our leaders as PDP cannot afford to present anyone in the South with a battered image, we need deep experience, youthful inclination and braved.”
He further pledged to build upon the foundation already laid by his predecessors over the years, strengthen the weak pillars and fill the cracks in the process.
“I believe the governors of the party should rescue the party while party chieftains begin to work in earnest with Gov. Ibrahim Dankwanbo of Gombe and Darius Ishaku of Taraba in the north, because as we search for a National Chairman in the South, same efforts must begin in search of a credible presidential candidate who can take Nigeria to the greater height,” he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari Monday hit back at former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying our achievements are there for all to see.
Buhari also reminded the former president that unlike his time when they chunk out between 800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira as ‘subsidy’ yearly in their time, without making the products available even at regulated prices, this Administration is not paying any subsidy, yet the product is available and queues have disappeared from the filling stations.
Buhari therefore posited that by now Nigerians
Nigerians are brilliant and discerning, and won’t be taking in by the former president’s claims.
Jonathan last week took a swipe at the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the party of lies and propaganda, saying “My government was severely criticised for increasing the pump price of petroleum from N67 to N97 at a time that global crude price was going for over 100 dollars.
“The pump price was later reduced to N87 when the price of crude oil dropped and they attacked us that it was supposed to be lower.
“Those who criticised my administration are not talking again now that the global crude oil is about 53 dollars per barrel and the pump price of petrol is N143,” Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan’s spokesman, quoted him in a statement.
But the president punctured his claims with facts and figures at the Nigeria Government Forum (NGF), Media Conference For media handlers of state’s chief executive governors with the theme: “Governors Public Perception: Changing the Narrative Agenda”
Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said “Those who accused this Administration of ‘propaganda and lies’ in the fuel supply sector, for example, did not tell Nigerians that whereas they paid between 800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira as ‘subsidy’ yearly in their time, without making the products available even at regulated prices, this Administration is not paying any subsidy, yet all products are currently available at competitive prices and fuel queues are now history.
“In their time, they paid subsidy of 3.7 billion Naira DAILY in 2011; 2.2 billion Naira DAILY in 2012 and 2013, and 2.5 billion Naira DAILY in 2014, all for products that were never available.”
Describing disinformation and fake news, as ”evil twins” in the public space, the president said that they have become potent weapons in the hands of opposition, expressing worry that they will be the biggest obstacle as the 2019 general elections.
He said, “Let me be straight: This is the most difficult time for anyone to find himself or herself in your position. Why? Because in addition to working with a tight budget, you face the double tragedy of disinformation and fake news, buoyed to a large extent by the advent of Social Media. Never before have these ”evil twins” of disinformation and fake news permeated the public space as they have now and, make no mistakes about it, they have become potent weapons in the hands of naysayers. Sadly, they will be the biggest obstacle facing you from now till the 2019 general elections, whether you believe it or not.
“In recent days, you have all seen the dangers posed, not just to you but even the general public, by those who have chosen to deploy disinformation and fake news as a weapon of choice. First, they created unnecessary panic in the society by claiming that Monkey Pox resulted from the Federal Government’s deliberate injection of people with the virus in certain states. We had hardly dispelled that when they claimed that the military, which is going beyond the call of duty to support the civilian populace, has been injecting school children with Monkey Pox, forcing many parents across a number of states to withdraw their children from school for days. Imagine the implication of this on the affected children’s education and health.
“Now, the disinformation is that ahead of the forthcoming election in Anambra, the government has been providing IPOB uniform to some people to cause mayhem, so they can in turn blame IPOB, and that many roads leading to Anambra will be closed before and after the elections, hence they advised Anambra residents to stay at home and not come out for the election. This is all disinformation, pure and simple. There is no such plan.
“Now, going hand in hand with disinformation and fake news is the new strategy of the naysayers to label the achievements of the government of the day as ‘propaganda and lies’ in order to discredit them. It is for you, at your level, to use concrete facts to showcase the achievements of your principals. Nigerians are brilliant and discerning, and won’t be taken in by such deliberate denigration. But they also need facts and figures.
“For our Administration, our achievements are there for all to see. We are delivering in the broad areas that formed the plank of our policies: Security, fight against corruption and the economy, which includes the massive provision of infrastructure, ease of doing business and agriculture, just to mention a few.”
Earlier, the DG NGF, Mr. Bayo Okauru said the workshop is to help build the capacity of media handlers of the chief executives.
The Director of General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Garuba Abari, describe media handling as the key ingredient in bringing out the messages of what the Chief executives are doing.
He said citizens must know why things are happening and why there are not happening, describing the workshop as an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas.
He also said it is opportunity to get feedback on what government is doing.
Maiduguri - Twin explosions in Maiduguri late Sunday night have killed 16 people including the suicide bombers.
The explosions occured at the Muna Garage and Muna Dalti, suburds of Maiduguri which have experienced more than five blasts in the past.
Commissioner of Police, Borno Command, Mr Damian Chukwu said a male suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body caused the first explosion at Muna Garage, “killing himself and 13 persons.” Five persons were also injured, he disclosed.
“In another development at Muna Dalti, two female suicide bombers detonated explosives killing themselves and injuring 13 persons,” Chukwu said.
He said 16 people died in the explosions while 18 were injured.
He said those injured have been taken to the university teaching hospital for treatment.
Muna Garage general area, the scene of the bombing, is located some 2 kilometres to the city centre. It has witnessed more than five suicide bomb attacks this year.
The Sunday bombing came barely two weeks after four suicide bombers blew up themselves while attempting to scale the peremetre of a public hospital at the city outskirts.
Lagos – The management of Dangote Cement Plc recently presented its third quarter financial results ended September 30, 2017 to the investing public, revealing that profit after tax (PAT) grew at a faster pace than revenue from sales for the period, when compared to that of prior year.
Nigeria attained self-sufficiency in the production of cement and is now an exporter of the commodity due to the vast investments by the Dangote Cement Group.
According to the result, sales revenue increased by 36.52 per cent from N442.09 billion in the corresponding period of 2016 to N603.58 billion, with revenue from sale of cement, its core business contributing N603.38 billion of the income, up from N441.98 billion; while production cost of sales increased to N259.85 billion from N241.68 billion, driven by N87.60 billion in material consumed, up from N64.25 billion and N85.98 billion in cost of fuel and power consumed, as against the previous N86.98 billion. This resulted in gross profit of N343..72 billion, as against the N210.41 billion recording in the first nine months of 2016.
During the nine-month period, while revenue and net profit from Nigeria stood at N416.11 billion and N251.09 billion respectively; N191.85 billion came from Dangote Cement’s pan-African operating units, which sustained a N14.65 billion net loss; which was further hampered the group’s N8.49 billion represented the group’s central administrative cost.
Administrative expenses climbed to N32.67 billion from N29.97 billion; just as selling and distribution expenses rose from N62.03 billion to N80.82 billion, with haulage expenses contributing N54.47 billion, from just N14.9 billion; while depreciation rose to N14.6 billion from N15.7 billion in the 2016 nine-month.
Other income slowed down to N2.62 billion from N10.54 billion; resulting in profit from operating activities of N233.14 billion, compared with the N122.37 billion in 2016; finance income dropped also to N26.96 billion from N55.70 billion, as foreign exchange gains, arising from the translation of foreign currencies denominated balances at the end of the period across the group fell to N20.87 billion from N54.37 billion, while interest income improved to N6.09 billion from N1.34 billion. Finance costs rose from N29.35 billion to N39.91 billion, the bulk of which was the N39.42 billion interest expense, up from N29.28 billion.
Profit before tax stood at N220.18 billion from N148.72 billion and profit after tax move from N133.52 billion to N193.14 billion, representing a 44.64 per cent growth for the period. The net profit resulted in Earnings Per Share of N11.30, up from N8.13 each.
5% y/y and q/q each) in per tonne production cost.
Group opex rose by 14 per cent year-on-year and 16 per cent quarter-on-quarter. In Nigeria, opex remained well contained while sharp increases were recorded overseas. At the Group level, the EBITDA margin of 47.5 per cent was higher by 1649 basic points year-on-year, with Nigerian realised 62.4 per cent.
Commenting on the score-card, analysts at FBN Capital Limited, noted that “Despite the stellar sales growth, what is clear is that the unit volumes in Nigeria continue to be under pressure, due to the effect of weak private demand and elevated prices.
“Similar to second quarter, we believe that the marked expansion in gross margin in Nigeria was driven by the combination of higher pricing and a favourable fuel mix in favour of coal and gas as compared with low-pour fuel oil (LPFO),”.
Analysts at GTI Capital noted that this was due to the effect of a price hike in cement price that was done towards the end of 2016 which has greatly impacted revenue this year.
“The performance was further stimulated by the cost optimization strategy of the firm as evidenced by the reduction in operating expense ratio. Also the percentage of growth of the net income is higher than that of the revenue.
“In addition to this, the firms Q3 2017 net income which came in at N193 billion has already surpassed the full year net income achieved in 2016 which was N187 billion. This may result to an increase in dividend that will be paid,” they said.
They however noted, the firm’s capacity to meet its short term obligations weakened due to a decrease in its current and acid test ratio.
Analysts at Cordros Capital said, Dangote Cement’s performance over the nine months of 2017 was very strong, and consistent with the broadly expected impressive year for the Group, saying “We look for positive investor reaction to the result.”
The chairman of the company, Aliko Dangote, said the company’s strategy in every country of operations is to be the leader on costs, quality and service.
He said the company build large, modern, highly efficient plants that combine the latest equipment from Europe, China and beyond to enable it make higher-quality cement at lower costs, thereby giving it strong competitive advantages.
Group managing director of Dangote Cement, Onne Van der Weijde, recently said the company exported nearly 0,4 tonnes into neighbouring countries and in doing so, achieved a great milestone by transforming Nigeria into a net exporter of cement. “This is a remarkable achievement, given that only five years ago, in 2011, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest importers, buying 5,1Mt of foreign cement at huge expense to our balance of payments. We will increase our exports substantially in 2017,” said Weidje.
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46Mt capacity across Africa. Its Obajana plant in Kogi, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 13,25Mt of capacity across four lines. The Ibese plant in Ogun has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta. The Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta. The company plans to build new factories in Ogun State (3-6Mta) and Edo State (6.0Mta). In addition, it has invested several billion dollars to build manufacturing plants and import/grinding terminals across Africa in Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
Lagos – The Nigerian Importers Integrity Association (NIIA) has commended the Chairman of INTELS Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gabriele Volpi, for intervening in the dispute between his company and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over remittances into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
While the NPA had insisted that all funds collected on its pilotage agency agreement be remitted into the account, INTELS had argued that such directive was in violation of the terms of its contract. The stalemate led NPA to terminate the 10-year pilotage agreement contract with INTELS.
The cancellation of the contract various reactions from different segments of the Nigerian society. However, the INTELS Chairman, who had been out of the country for a while flew in last week and intervened in the face-off. Volpi, who described INTELS as a committed development partner to Nigeria, said he would do everything possible to ensure amicable resolution of the crisis.
Volpi said, “We intend to comply with the directive of government and transfer all the revenue to the TSA because we are a law-abiding company.” He also allayed fears that the company would pull out its investment in the Badagry deep seaport project.
“We are committed to cooperating with the government and NPA in the development of Nigeria’s maritime sector and this includes the Badagry deep seaport. The Badagry deep seaport is a massive undertaking which will cost billions of dollars and will be the biggest in Africa and would turn Nigeria into a regional hub for ships bringing goods to the continent.
“It will also help to move a lot of shipping activities at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports and help to decongest Apapa, so we are serious about our investments in Nigeria,” he said. Reacting to the development, NIIA President, Godwin Onyekachi, commended Mr. Volpi for the peace move.
Onyekachi said Mr. Volpi’s intervention “is a mark of good leadership. It will save a lot of jobs and restore investor confidence in Nigeria. Disputes are bound to arise in commercial transactions of this nature ad it is the responsibility of concerned parties to shift grounds so as to arrive at an amicable resolution,” he said.
Speaking separately, a development Economist, Dr. Austin Nweze and leading financial analyst, Dr. Ken Igboanugo said the lingering NPA-INTELS face-off was a bad signal to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
According to Nweze, “The government decision will send wrong signal to foreign investors who want to invest or those who would have wanted to do more than they have done because they know government can wake up one day to terminate the contract without recourse to the law and agreement of the contract.
“Government is gradually destroying the economy with every of its action. International community take note of all contractual action and the irony is that we travel abroad asking investors to come and invest but what will they invest for when simple agreement cannot be adhered to.” On his part, Dr. Igboanugo, said NPA should take all necessary steps to resolve the dispute amicably in order to encourage investment in the country.
Lagos – Founder of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, Prof. Pat Utomi and founder of Life Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), Godwin Ehigiamusoe, have said weak institutions had posed a significant drag on the nation’s economic growth.
They urged governmental to adopt a holistic measures aimed at curbing unnecessary bottlenecks that slows the growth and development of businesses in Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Galvanizing SMEs for Inclusive Development in Nigeria’ at the 24th annual LAPO Development Forum held in Lagos, Ehigiamusoe said, unfriendly business environment, over dependence on oil, poor funding, and inconsistent government policies are some of the major factors responsible for the gross under performance of the SMEs sub-sector.
He called for more coordinated efforts by all stakeholders aimed at galvanizing SMEs towards inclusive development in Nigeria just as it advocated for transparency and accountability at all levels of government to enable SMEs to thrive.
Also, the founder, Heirs Holdings; Tony Elumelu , who was represented by the chief executive officer of Transcorp Group, Adim Jibunoh called for more coordinated efforts by all stakeholders to stimulate SMEs towards inclusive development in Nigeria
While, Utomi, stressed the need for government at all levels to prioritise the ease of doing business, create institutional support for SME growth and ultimately generate more jobs opportunities for the youths. According to him, government needs to strengthen all institutions and regulatory authorities that have involvements on the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
He added that this would give a major push to export SMEs goods across Africa and opportunity for more market on Nigerian products. “SMEs are where most people work. One of the most challenging conversations that we have about economic growth, job creation and all of that is that we are looking for foreign investors, we are looking for big cooperation to come and set up, but what most people want is SMEs.
“If you think about it, the oil industry directly employ less than ten Nigerians but where most people work are in companies that employ just more than 10 people and less than a 100 people so it is important to take this sector seriously.”
Elumelu identified SMEs as having a huge potential and the capability to create millions of jobs if the government addresses some of its critical challenges such as inadequate funding, policy inconsistencies among others. Addressing the urgent need to prioritise the sector, Elumelu, noted that the country desperately needed a mechanism for job creation to address inclusiveness and sustainable development.
“SMEs are the engine of growth. When they succeed, they create employment. To get it right we need to continue to prioritise our SMEs and improve the environment for SMEs to succeed,” Elumelu said.
Abuja- A United Nations Human rights and election monitoring group, People’s Right to Life Development Foundation (PERLDEF) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to veto any legislative proceeding involving contribution of Senator Bassey Akpan.
Senator Akpan, represented Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial Zone before he was sacked by a Federal High Court, on February 27, 2017.
In his place, the court declared Bassey Etim as the validly elected candidate for the senatorial seat.
Estim was accordingly, ordered to be sworn in as the authentic Senator for the zone.
However, since the court order was made, the group said the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has refused to swear in Etim, the Senator-elect.
In a petition to President Buhari, dated October 17, 2017 and made available to our reporter, the group wondered why a sacked Senator would continue to sit and take part in senate’s legislative process, even when his Certificate of Return had been withdrawn.
The petition was signed by Ifot Nathaniel, National Chairman; Ali Abacha, Secretary; and Chief Oni Emmanuel, Zonal Coordinator South-West.
The group complained to Buhari that “Despite, his sack, Bassey Akpan is still attending senate proceedings, thereby invalidating such proceeding and making them null and void.
“Your Excellency, such invalid proceedings as bills or resolutions for assent or implementation negate the principle of due process and impaired the constitutional right of Mr. President on assent” the group stated.
“In view of the threat that the violation may cause to the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and Senate Standing Rule, we hereby call on President Muhammadu Buhari to veto any legislative process involving contribution of the erstwhile senator since March 6, 2017 as one cannot build something on nothing” the group wrote.
More so, PERLDEF urged President Buhari to order for the investigation and arrest of Akpan for illegally participating in the senate proceedings without Certificate of Return.
“Rather than execute the judgement delivered by a court of competent jurisdiction in the country, National Assembly continues to pay salary to Akpan. This is corruption and abuse of rule of law” the group insisted.
Abuja- Thousands of commercial bank customers who operate accounts without a Biometric Verification Number (BVN) are currently panic stricken, as the Federal High Court, Abuja, has granted federal government’s prayers to have such accounts forfeited if owners do not come forward to claim them in two weeks time.
Trouble for non-BVN account owners started on October 17 this year, when Justice Nnamdi Dimgba ruled on an ex-parte motion filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Justice Abubakar Malami, where he slammed a restraint order on commercial banks to desist from operating such ‘ghost’ accounts.
Justice Dimgba further directed the banks to disclose the owners and the financial content of each of the accounts.
The 19 Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in the country are affected by the court orders which seek to check corruption and enthrone transparency in the financial system.
The ex-parte motion – FHC/ABJ/CS/911/2017- was filed on September 28, 2017 and argued by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, A. D. Tyoden.
It was brought pursuant to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Know Your Customers (KYC) Guidelines and Section 3 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011 as amended.
The enrolled orders from the ruling read: “That the 1st – 19th defendant banks shall disclose: (a) the names of the accounts as operated; (b) account number(s); (c) outstanding balances (d) domiciliary accounts and (e) the branch/location where the accounts are domiciled of all accounts without BVN.
“That the 1st – 19th defendant banks to disclose any investments made with funds from these accounts without BVN in any products including fixed/term deposits and their liquidation and interest incurred, bank acceptances, commercial Papers and any other relevant information related to the transaction made on the accounts.
“That an order is hereby made freezing the said accounts by stopping all outward payments, operations or transactions (including any bill of exchange) in respect of the accounts pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application.
“That an order is hereby made directing the 1st to 19th defendant banks to disclose any investments made with funds from these accounts without BVN in any products including fixed/term deposits and their liquidation and interest incurred, bank acceptances, commercial papers and any other relevant information related to the transaction made on the accounts.
“That an interim order is hereby made directing the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems to validate the information contained in the affidavit of compliance/disclosure filed by the respective 19 banks within seven days from the date of service on the Central Bank and NIBSS.
“That an interim order is hereby made appointing a Bank Examiner from the Central Bank of Nigeria to examine the books of any bank that fails to comply with the order of the honourable court to file affidavit of disclosure.
“That an interim order is hereby made granting leave to the applicants or any officer authorised by them to advertise the accounts without BVN disclosed by the bank in a widely circulated national newspaper as notice to any person or body corporate or financial institution who may have any interest in any of the said accounts to claim ownership of same within 14 days of the publication of the order and show cause why the proceeds in the account should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Justice Dimgba fixed further hearing on the case for November 16, 2017.
As at the first quarter of this year, the CBN had issued 30,511,506 BVNs.
However, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) says a total of 15.72 million bank accounts remain unlinked as at February 2017.
Prior to the court order, the apex bank issued a memo warning the banks, NIBSS, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) to ensure proper capturing of the BVN data and validate same before linkage with customers’ accounts; ensure all operated accounts are linked with the signatories’ BVN; and ensure customer’s names on the BVN database are the same in all of his/her accounts, across the banking industry.
The CBN Director of Banking and Payment System, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, who signed the memo asked the banks to report confirmed fraudulent individuals’ BVNs to NIBSS for update of the watch-list database; report the BVN of deceased customers to NIBSS for update on the BVN database; render returns to NIBSS for enlisting individuals involved in confirmed fraudulent activities, with the report signed by the chief audit executives.
The apex bank requires NIBSS to ensure BVN data are stored within the shores of Nigeria and shall not be routed across borders without the consent of the CBN, while users of the BVN information shall establish adequate security procedures to ensure the safety and security of its information and those of its clients, which shall include physical, logical, network and enterprise security.
The BVN, which gives each bank customer a unique set of number, was launched on February 14 2014 for the purpose of registering all customers in the financial system using biometric technology.
It seeks to promote transparency in the nation’s financial system.
The idiocy of the Nigerian state is magnified by the fact that whereas Nigeria has crude oil worth over $15billion stolen from its shores, at a time when the selfsame country is chasing after loans that represent just a fraction of what its citizens in collaboration with foreigners have stolen from it.
Therefore, the spectre of gloom that continues to stare Nigerians in the face as a result of the present economic situation may not be about to end unless the Federal Government of Nigeria ensures that the move to recoup proceeds from stolen crude, get some traction. The story is as stupefying as it is unbelievable.
An estimated 1,492,000,000 (One billion, four hundred and ninety million barrels of crude oil) was carted away between 2011 and 2014.
The cost is put at between $15b and $17b. Moves are being made to recover the monies. Of the 51 countries alleged to be destinations of the stolen crude, investigations on 41 have been concluded.
Painfully, however, the slow pace of the investigation has not been unconnected to the dysfunctional institutions in the country which made extraction of information that would have aided the tracking of the products impossible.
DISTURBED by the magnitude of crude oil and gas stolen from Nigeria between 2011-2014, estimated at over 17billion dollars, members of the House of Representatives, office of the Attorney General to the Federation and the presidency have traced locations of Nigeria’s stolen crude oil across the globe.
Latest updates indicate that 51 countries are alleged to be involved.
According to sources, already, investigations have been concluded in 41 countries.
As at the time of going to press, the list of the countries was still being kept under wraps for diplomatic reasons.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the Presidency, United States’ Justice Department, and Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, OAGF, have intensified efforts towards getting the funds back.
Yakubu Dogara
Information available suggests that the Nigerian government has been in touch with the US Justice Department, the initial investigators, Loumos Group, which is a Texas-based firm, and Hon Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, PDP, Ikpoba Oha/Egor Federal Constituency, in Edo State, on how to get a substantial part of the funds returned.
In the forefront of this campaign to get a refund and speed up the prosecution of the multi-national companies involved are Hon Agbonayinma, and Barrister Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, who currently serves as Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reform/National Co-ordinator Open Government Partnership.
Also, Loumos Group engaged the services of three lawyers to help pursue the matter in the US as all efforts of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to prosecute the matter here in Nigeria, continue to hit a brick wall.
For instance, the General Counsel to Loumos Group, Jerome Stanley, disclosed that all attempts, through institutions in Nigeria, to extract information that would aid the tracking of the crude oil that left Nigeria proved abortive.
In fact, after spending time in Nigeria without achieving any meaningful results, the team of lawyers from the United States of America, according to Stanley, had to return to Houston, Texas, in the US. (Read attached interview on the next steps to be taken).
Last year, specifically on Friday, September 23, the House of Representatives inaugurated an ad-hoc Committee to carry out investigative hearings on the allegations as presented by Hon Agbonayinma in a motion.
The committee, headed by Hon Abdulrazaq Namdas, APC, Adamawa, concluded its investigations but has not laid its report on the floor of the House.
Once the committee commenced the investigative hearing, it became difficult to get the critical stakeholders who deliberately refused to appear or even submit vital documents until the lawmakers threatened to issue a Bench warrant.
Motion that set off investigations
Agbonayinma told his colleagues that former President Goodluck Jonathan contracted an auditing firm to probe what went wrong and he gave a brief synopsis of the report.
He gave the breakdown that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and other agencies were indicted in the report.
The company was contracted in 2013 by the administration of President Jonathan to
proffer solutions to the challenges of crude oil theft.
Agbonayinma, in the motion, recalled that Molecular Power System was engaged to provide technical data (records of crude oil and liquefied natural gas lifting in Nigeria as obtained from the NNPC, and landing certificates at global destinations) to verify possibilities of non declaration to the federal government by multinational companies.
“The data gathering of shipment to the USA for the period 2011 to December 2014 through critical NNPC data and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, pre-shipment inspection report shows undeclared crude oil shortfalls of 57,830,000 MT of Nigerian crude oil, translating to well over $12 billion to the USA, also over $3billion to China, and $839,522,600 to Norway,” he said. These were conclusively ascertained by buyers’ bill of lading, arrival dates, destination ports, quantity of crude oil and other documented information, Agbonayinma said.
This is scandalous.
The lawmaker further noted that the data gathered showed a liquefied natural gas shortfall of 727,460 metric tonnes, estimated at over $461 million, from shipments to seven countries. The revenue loss, Agbonayinma said, was traced to cargoes at each destination port of entry, and have been established as undeclared cargo.
He added that the tracing was found in 51 countries where Nigerian crude oil has been exported, with the US being the largest receiver of crude oil.
The report from the US and that of other countries, were made available to the former President, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, he said.
“The machines that monitor loading into the vessels were bought, owned, calibrated and operated by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) without monitoring”.
After listening to him, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, quickly set up an adhoc committee to dig deeper into Agbonayinma’s assertions.
When the committee commenced its work, more embarrassing revelations came to light.
Committee’s work
The members, while cross examining Rabiu Bello, NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), he admitted before the panelists that there were discripancies in the documents before the Adhoc Committee.
In the process, the committee discovered that within four years, from the documents submitted by the stakeholders, about $15billion unremitted oil and gas revenue could not be adequately explained.
The committee also discovered that the alleged missing funds were contained in the two separate documents submitted by the NNPC.
Also in his presentation, Jack Ukitetu, CBN Director who represented the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, explained that the Accountant General of the Federation approves and determines the money that goes into the Excess Crude Account.
Ukitetu, who explained that before 2006, the CBN collected the money on behalf of government’s agencies and remitted same into the Federal Reserve Account in New York, and charged 0.25 percent, however, noted that after 2006, the oil companies pay directly what is due to the government.
On commissions being collected by the apex bank, the CBN representative told the lawmakers that the CBN collects 0.25 percent via forex allocation and does not charge FG one kobo as its deductions are made from central sales.
He explained that the levels of sales are the buying, central and selling rates, but CBN does its deductions at central sales level.
The CBN representative also disclosed that the crude oil account is maintained by JP Morgan, and admitted that in making the transfers, the money could be misdirected to another account by the financial institutions.
He added that the apex bank has no statutory power of oversight to demand for details of the transactions made by NNPC.
The committee at this point, asked him to bring the total commissions deducted by the apex bank from 2011-2014 within the next one week. He was also instructed to bring along all letters of credit issued by the CBN within the same period.
Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, in his submission, accused NNPC and CBN of misleading the Adhoc Committee but pleaded to withdraw the earlier documents submitted.
He however pledged to submit “more damaging documents” on the alleged crude oil theft to the Adhoc Committee, that will help in unearthing the unremitted revenue which accrued from oil and gas sales but which were not remitted.
Namdas had earlier threatened that the Ad-hoc Committee will not hesitate to submit its report to the House without the inputs of major Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which fail to honour the invitation of the committee.
To this end, he mandated the apex bank and NNPC to submit the audited report of the oil and gas account showing the remitted funds into the Federation Account between 2011 and 2014.
The Corporation was also mandated to submit Bill of Laden relating to the 974,721 barrels of crude oil lifted on 20th October 2011; 961,963 barrels lifted on the 10th October 2011; 974,935 barrels of crude oil lifted on the 9th July 2011 as well as 974,953 barrels of crude oil lifted on the 18th July 2011 but were not declared.
The lawmakers also requested for report of the reconciliation conducted by NNPC and Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, as well as the list of oil off-takers for 2013 and 2014.
When the Freedom of Information Act was enacted in 2011, many citizens mostly activists and journalists assumed that the nation had achieved a near revolution because through the Act the days of secrecy in governance ought to be over.
Although it was expected that the Act would make Nigerians know everything about how they are governed, events have since shown that the Act in Nigeria is only a policy statement and that like all policies in the country, the gap between plans and implementation is exceedingly wide.
This seems to explain why, those in authority make it impossible for the citizenry to know what is happening in government.
With the modalities for utilizing the provisions of the FOI Act yet to be put in place, any effort to make those in power accountable to the people would remain a mirage. The nation is therefore greatly indebted to Aisha Buhari, the wife of our President for exposing so much about the Special Hospital in the Villa. Through her effort, we are better positioned to catch a glimpse of why Nigeria is virtually static.
Some days ago, our First Lady told stakeholders at a meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy and Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH), that going by her findings at the State House Clinic in the Villa, the Nigerian health sector was in a deplorable state.
Her deduction is logical because if a medical facility dedicated to looking after the first family is defective, where else is a functioning public hospital likely to be found? Recalling her personal encounter with the Centre, she revealed that the place was operating with a dysfunctional X-ray facility amidst non-availability of everything medical including basic drugs.
All she found happening in the Centre was inexplicable continuous construction of buildings as if it was a site of the Federal Housing Authority. Since then, some people in government have been in disarray trying to explain or add more fire or cover aspects of the subject. The gain has been that of the nation as more and more of what people do or fail to do or are not allowed to do are coming out.
First, it has shown that the highest decision maker concerning the hospital is not its Chief Executive and Medical Director but a civil servant described as Permanently Secretary, State House. So, what is the relationship between the Medical Centre and the Ministry of Health which also has a permanent secretary and indeed a minister?
Now that the priority of the centre is buildings, is not time to ask of the real purpose for which the centre was established? Was it supposed to cater for all comers or the first family and her immediate staff?
Because of the first lady’s exclamation the truth has now come out that the centre now caters for what has been explained as “apart from the presidency, other beneficiaries of the free services include political appointees, the military, para-military, other security agencies, members of the national assembly, and the general public.”
The reason is not farfetched; it is because the service is free. If so, who now patronizes the public hospitals in Garki, Wuse, Maitama and Asokoro and is it really true that the centre also caters for even our legislators who we hear have allowances for every item or subhead?
Second, Aisha Buhari’s critical comment has also shown that figures that are bandied around in budgets are a far cry from reality. For instance, it has now been made public that the Centre has a zero allocation in 2017 and that the claim that it had N11.01billion as appropriation for the period 2015-2017 is incorrect.
“According to the permanent secretary, State House, Jalal A. Arabi, “out of the total capital appropriation of N2.9 billion and recurrent appropriation of N465 million for the period under reference, only the sum of N969 million (representing 32.97%) for capital and N225 million (representing 48.41%) for recurrent was actually released.” Who has the balance? This question and many others are what investigative journalists have been working upon in the last two weeks.”
The media have found and are still finding many allegations that should now be explained. They have found for example that the poor state of the centre is well known to higher authorities considering that the Medical Director Dr. H.Y Munir had reportedly addressed a letter to the Chief of Staff to The President dated 3rd October, 2017 titled “Re-State House Clinic Patients Groan Over Drug Scarcity.”
Another issue concerns the failure of the clinic’s management to fumigate the centre and its environment thereby breeding mosquitoes such that patients on admission at the centre battle with mosquitoes at nights while others who visit the clinic with different ailments leave with malaria.
There is also the problem of salaries of internship doctors which are reportedly diverted into fixed deposit while another allegation suggests that doctors lure patients from the centre to their private clinics while they leave student-doctors to attend to patients under critical health conditions at the centre.
It has also been alleged that so far 21m has been deducted for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) whereas no staff has access to the scheme interestingly, as soon the President’s wife raised alarm, the House of Representatives quickly swung into action to probe the subject.
According to media reports, the decision of the House was sequel to a motion entitled, ‘’Need to investigate the deplorable condition of the State House Clinic and the alleged deductions from the salaries and allowances of the medical staff”, moved by Rep. Henry Archibong, PDP, Akwa Ibom.
The House was also reported to have commended Mrs. Buhari for what was described as “her exemplary show of patriotism and selflessness” in exposing the rot at the clinic. The involvement of our legislators provides another angle for questions.
How effective is the House committee on health? Is it aware that what has been appropriated for the clinic is different from what is released? How far do our legislators carry out their much talked about oversight functions?
Indeed, why was the exposure of the alleged rot at the centre by Aisha Buhari for which she is being commended by the House not discovered and exposed during oversight functions? The summary is that Mrs. Buhari has admirably opened-up governance.
