The NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation) must die!” These were the words of the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, in Abuja on Monday.
A visibly angry el-Rufai, while speaking at the 7th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series, lambasted the national oil firm for being run like a parallel government, adding that he was hopeful that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would “kill” the corporation.
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The governor called for the setting up of another national oil firm as he argued that the present NNPC would kill Nigeria if it was allowed to continue running.
“If you don’t kill the NNPC, it will kill Nigeria,” el-Rufai said.
According to him, the oil firm is riddled with corruption and until it is destroyed completely and rebuilt from the scratch, there will be no headway for Nigeria.
El-Rufai argued that with his experience as a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, it was possible to destroy a bad organisation and turn it into a good firm.
He maintained that Nigeria’s collective wealth was being feasted upon by the less than 1,000 employees of the corporation, alleging that the NNPC only remitted 42 per cent of what it ought to remit to the Federal Government for about three years.
The governor used statistics to defend his recommendation on why the current NNPC must be destroyed
He said in 2014, the country produced on the average about 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day, while importing most of its daily consumption of 43.5 million litres of refined petroleum products.
He stated that the reliance on imports of refined products led to unsustainable expenses on questionable subsidy payments, exemplified by the $8.99bn spent in the 18 months between January 2012 and June 2013.
El-Rufai said, “About N971bn was budgeted for subsidy payments in 2014 alone (more than twice that was eventually paid). You all recall how trillions of naira were paid out as oil subsidy in 2011, when only N254bn was appropriated. No one has been successfully prosecuted for this scam. Huge deficits in gas supply have ensured that the country’s thermal plants cannot produce power at optimal levels.
“In the eight years leading up to 2014, joint venture production declined by 50.4 per cent. Some 100,000 barrels per day, about five per cent of total production, is estimated to be lost to organised theft. And we all dread the ease and rapidity with which supply shortages lead to endless queues, widespread panic and mortal consequences for the many victims of tanker accidents.
“The long and short of the situation of our oil industry is best exemplified by the parallel government called the NNPC. In 2012, it sold N2.77tn of ‘domestic’ crude oil but paid only N1.66tn to the Federation Account. In 2013, it earned N2.66tn but paid N1.56tn to FAAC; in 2014, (it earned) N2.64tn, but remitted N1.44tn; while between January and May 2015, it earned N733.36bn and remitted only N473.2bn.
“That means that the NNPC only remitted about 58 per cent of the monies earned between 2012 and the first half of 2015. A company with the audacity to retain 42 per cent of a country’s money has become a veritable parallel republic!”
The governor noted that the NNPC felt entitled to consume more resources than the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and the Federal Government combined.
“The example just given is only with respect to domestic crude oil sale. Similar leakages exist in the NPDC, NAPIMS procurement and subsidiary budgets,” he added.
On the way out for Nigeria, the governor said the country could demonstrate a new purpose by slaying three huge dragons, which he outlined as “a fixation with public ownership and control of every major oil asset, the corruption and distortion that oil subsidy is inflicting on our economy, and the NNPC in its current form is not in our collective national interest.”
El-Rufai went on to state that the corruption and distortion in the subsidy regime must be tackled.
He argued that the oil subsidy regime had neither grown the Nigerian people nor guaranteed stability of refined products’ supplies.
Rather, he said, what the subsidy had achieved was to create a huge hole in the budget and a new array of overnight billionaires.
The governor said, “An efficient and productive oil sector, able to create jobs, spur industrialisation and earn more revenues, requires that we tackle the monster that the NNPC has become. This country can no longer afford to maintain an NNPC that arrogantly, unlawfully and unconstitutionally spends an unhealthy proportion of national oil earnings on itself.
“We should replace the NNPC with brand new organisations that are fit for purpose, among others, a commercialised and corporatised national oil company, and new industry regulators. This new national oil company should be capitalised once and for all, and then freed to fend for itself like other national oil companies do, seeking its financing independently from the financial markets and paying due taxes and royalties.
He noted that no one was better qualified to do this than the person that birthed the NNPC through the merger of the NNOC and the Ministry of Petroleum in 1977, President Buhari himself.
“No one can appreciate the gap between the vision of the NNPC’s founding fathers, the beautiful baby of 1977 and the 38 year-old monster it has become better than President Buhari. The NNPC of today must make Chief Sunday Awoniyi of blessed memory squirm in his grave. Something fundamentally decisive must be done to tame this monster,” el-Rufai added.
The governor noted that Nigeria had an oil fortune, adding that the decline in the nation’s revenue or the negligence in using it to build human capital or enduring physical infrastructure was another matter.
“The PUNCH Newspaper of April 2, 2015, quoting figures from the United States Department of Energy, placed oil export earnings for the year 2011 at $99bn. Indeed, in the five Jonathanian years, Nigeria earned nearly $500bn from crude oil and gas sales,” he said.
According to him, about 40 per cent of Nigerians are estimated to be very poor, adding that this means about 70 million citizens are living below the poverty line in a country that has earned at least $1tn from oil in 50 years.
“Our rich enjoy the lifestyles of the richest in the world, while our poor are truly the wretched of the earth. This inequality is most unfortunate. That wide gulf in living standards is clearly problematic.”
When contacted to speak on the points raised by el-Rufai, the spokesperson of the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, told our correspondent that he was in a meeting.
A text message was sent to his mobile telephone line demanding a response. However, as of the time of filing this report, no response had come from the corporation.
One of the guests at the lecture series, who is the Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation newspaper, Sam Omatseye, argued that caution must be applied when dismantling the current NNPC.
He stated that the government must be careful not to create another national oil firm that would be worse than the current NNPC.
Senate on a collision course with Buhari
THERE were indications, on Sunday, of an imminent clash between the Presidency and the Senate over an alleged attempt by the Presidency to rubbish the senate president.
Pro-Saraki senators are accusing the Presidency of instigating the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastacia Nwaobia, not to honour an invitation by the upper chamber.
Nwaobia had communicated to the Senate that she could not honour its invitation without an approval by her supervisors to do so but the Saraki loyalists said the Senate had the constitutional power to invite Nwaobia and that her refusal constituted an affront to the legitimacy of the senate president.
The Saraki loyalists’ belief apparently rested on the alleged ‘non-acceptance’ of his presidency by the All Progressives Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate,” a pro-Saraki senator told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.
Both Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had spurned the party’s directive on who to lead the National Assembly and had ridden on the back of an alleged alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members to clinch the leadership posts in both chambers.
The APC had preferred Ahmad Lawan, a Senator from Yobe State, as the president of the Senate.
The Lawan group in the Senate on Sunday said it supported Nwaobia because Saraki was said to lack both legitimacy and the moral right to invite the permanent secretary to brief the senate on the state of the economy.
The Saraki group said the ‘offending’ permanent secretary failed to honour the Senate’s invitation because she did not get clearance from the Presidency.
Investigations by one of our correspondents revealed that as of Friday the permanent secretary had yet to neither appear before the Senate leadership nor respond to the letters from the National Assembly management.
It was learnt that senators loyal to the Senate President were angry that the Presidency could encourage the civil servants to disobey the Senate.
The Senate ad hoc committee on Finance, in a letter dated June 29, 2015, had invited Nwaobia and some officials of the finance ministry to appear before the committee on July 8.
But when the permanent secretary did not honour the invitation at 11am on July 8, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, wrote another letter to her the same day, restating the invitation.
The permanent secretary was said to have sent a text message to the Senate on July 7, explaining why she could not come.
But the clerk’s letter, a copy of which was sent to the Head of Service of the Federation, read, “I refer to our letter Ref. No. NASS/S//SP/ COS/CORRP/15/1/06 of June 29, 2015 on the above subject matter and your text message of July 7, 2015 to the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, signifying your inability to honour the invitation.
“Your action is a deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended).
“You are, therefore, requested to appear before the Senate leadership as contained in your aforementioned letter on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 2.00pm prompt.”
The third letter to the Permanent Secretary, written by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Issa Galaudu, also stressed the importance of the meeting. It read, “Please note that your text message of yesterday, Tuesday, July 7, 2015, which I received by hours of 20:02 pm, suggesting that you would not make today’s meeting, is unacceptable.
“This is an affront to the President of the Senate and its leadership. The provision of Section 67(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is very clear and unambiguous in this regard. Hence, you do not need the permission of any official before you attend or appear before the Senate.
“Consequently, I have the instructions of the President of the Senate and leadership that you do appear before them on the date and time earlier communicated to you, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by 11am prompt. It is my belief that you will comply unconditionally.”
As of the close of work on Friday, the permanent secretary, our correspondents learnt, had not appeared before the Senate.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Sunday declined comment on the matter.
Efforts to get Nwaobia to comment on the issue were not successful as calls sent to her mobile phone did not connect.
Similarly, text message sent to her line was not acknowledged as of the time of this report.
Attempts to also get the spokesperson for the Ministry, Mr. Marshal Gundu, were also not successful as calls made to his mobile phone did not connect.
But a source in the ministry confided in our correspondent that, based on civil service procedures, it would be wrong for the permanent secretary to honour the invitation without first getting the approval of the Head of Service of the Federation.
The source said since the permanent secretary reports directly to the HoS and not the Senate, it would amount to a breach of protocol for her to appear before the lawmakers without getting the consent of the HoS.
To pro-Saraki loyalists, such explanation did not jell.
But Lawan’s supporters in the Senate, under the aegis of the Senate Unity Forum, supported Nwaobia’s shunning of the Senate invitation.
The group, in a statement by its spokesman, Senator Kabir Marafa, on Sunday, said that since Saraki had allegedly violated some sections of the Constitution to emerge as senate president, he could not accuse another person of committing the same offence.
The senator said, “I read with open mouth amazement, the letter written by both the Chief of Staff to the Senate President and that of the Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the “leadership” of the senate.
“They were saying the refusal violates section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence?
“They, in fact, not only violated the Constitution to ascend to the Senate leadership, they murdered it.”
Marafa alleged that the leadership and management of the National Assembly, “murdered section 60 of the Constitution that gives the Senate, and not any individual or group of persons, the powers to conduct the business of the Senate on the 9th of June 2015 using the forged document”
He also alleged that the Saraki group violated section 65 (2b) of the Constitution that “recognises the supremacy of the political party in favour of the unmentioned, unrecognised and unknown zonal caucuses.”
He alleged that Saraki violated Order 3(2) of the Senate standing order 2011, as amended, which he said put ranking above all other considerations in nominating senators to serve as presiding or principal officers of the Senate and it’s committees.
Marafa added that Saraki’s decision to announce Senators Ali Ndume and Bala Na’ Allah as senate leader and deputy leader respectively flouted the rule of ranking because Senators Ahmed Lawan and Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who were nominated by the party for the positions, were seniors to Ndume and Na’Allah.
He said, “The presiding officer did not hit the gavel after announcing the names of the Senate leader and his deputy, this is required to give the announcement legislative authority.
“From the foregoing it is clear that the leadership and indeed the Senate itself are not properly and legally constituted.”
The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, declined comments when contacted while efforts to get the spokesperson for the Saraki loyalists under the aegis of Senators of Like Minds, Dino Melaye, were unsuccessful as calls to his mobile phone were not answered.
LASTMA official slumped on traffic duty, dies
An official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, who slumped while controlling traffic on Ishaga Road in the Idi-Araba, Mushin area on Saturday, has died.
The official, Kazeem Lawal, was brought in dead to the Randle Hospital, Surulere, where his colleagues had rushed him.
The official, who was among LASTMA officials on duty for an event at the Chapel of the Healing Cross, collapsed at about 1.30pm.
Our correspondent gathered that Lawal, who was attached to LASTMA Zone 3, Iponri, died on the way to the hospital.
The matter was said to have been reported at the Alakara Police Division.
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One of the colleagues of the deceased, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “He was initially taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, but he could not be attended to because of the ongoing strike action. He was then rushed to the Randle Hospital where he was confirmed dead.
“We do not have any insurance policy. We do not have any hazard allowance. It is very painful.
“His family members are in disarray at present. We work round the clock, and we are usually overwhelmed. He must have collapsed from accumulated stress.
“Since the government sacked some LASTMA workers last year, there has been a burden on the workforce. Work posts, where seven personnel were handling, have been reduced to one or two.”
Our correspondent gathered that LASTMA officials, policemen and National Union of Transport Workers besieged the hospital on Sunday.
“The whole thing happened so fast and so shocking. By the time they took him to the Randle Hospital, he had died,” another LASTMA official said.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said he would get back to our correspondent on the matter.
He said, “I am still awaiting details on the incident. I will call you back when I have them.”
The Public Relations Officer, LASTMA, Bola Ajao, could not be reached as calls put across to her phone did not connect. A text message sent to her also had yet to be replied to.
President Buhari Sacks All Military Service Chiefs
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said this while speaking to State House correspondents on Monday.
Adesina, who did not give more details, added that the Presidency was preparing a statement on the sacking, which would be made available to newsmen.
Their replacements had neither been named as of the time of writing this report.
There has been an escalation in terror attacks by Boko Haram militants in the country in recent times, leading to the killing of more than 500 people in less than four weeks.
President Buhari Should Be Allowed To Gather Momentum
The state of the nation in terms of dilapidated infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and so on is of major concern to well-meaning Nigerians. We are all in this together and we will be needing to work towards the major goal of getting our economy to where it needs to be.
For our nation to move forward the President needs to be given some time to lay foundations because without foundations all strategies will not yield desired result. There is a need for coordinated and calculated approach in the policies and programs of this new administration.
Strategies not properly executed will end up being a failed project no matter how wonderful the idea is and that is why we will be needing the people to give the President sometime to put his house together like he is gradually doing now.
He obviously should know that the country expects a lot from him and he is working at it gradually. To now jump to a conclusion that he is not working or he is slow is too early for our collective interest as a nation. Comments like that incite people to heat up the polity.
Having said all this,I believe that the main agenda of this administration should focus on two basic elements and should be solved both tactically and strategically not in bits nor shatter here and there. It should be done in a coordinated approach. The two basic focus should be VALUE FOR LIFE & LIVING, and INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
Like I have said before any plan or agenda should be properly coordinated before execution. The value for life and living is not only limited to eradicating the Boko Haram or kidnapping menace but also to Health care, Insurance capabilities, safe driving, quality education, blocking all lope holes to corruption, police (or uniform men) brutality, Police reforms, Military reforms, acts of impunity, creating employment opportunities, and so on.
As for Infrastructural development we need our roads across the country to be in good condition and this can be done within two years with a will and coordinated approach; the rail can be channeled for better productivity; electricity should be a major focus as without this there can be no major development (I have this opinion that if Nigeria generates 50,000mega watts of electricity within the next four years given our current population estimates, we will leap to being top 15 economies in the world in less than 2years after that) and so on.
By Gross Domestic Product various organisations such has IMF, World Bank, UN, and the CIA have ranked us to be between 21 and 27 top economies in the world but how has that translated to having a decent place to sleep for the common man or having good water to drink or even having steady and good electricity? This means if we are between 21 and 27 in the world by GDP currently and a lot of people are still living below poverty line,if we can coordinate ourselves properly and have a focused vision we will be among the top 15 in the world, no doubt. Therefore, for us to get to this point we will be needing to allow the current government focus and not be distracted.
However, according to heritage.org we are ranked to be 120 in economy freedom index in the world. It is of no news that the Nigerian economy can be easily affected negatively by happenings in the foreign policy of other countries or negative happenings in such countries because we rely mainly on imports. Take a look at our forex market today what is going on there would have been avoided if we were not so dependent on buying from other countries. Therefore, infrastructure such as our refineries should be considered so as to serve Nigerians properly. Hence the need to coordinate us towards a desired goal for development; this takes some time.
The current government should be allowed to have a focus and should be helped with constructive criticism not antagonistic comments. There is a need for us all to come together as one to ensure we make Nigeria greater than our founding fathers imagined. This is a collective responsibility for us all as a nation. Having said this he should be allowed the time to gather his team since he is not a dictator but as a democrat,he must carry the people along in line with the constitution. We should give him time to show that he is a man of vision and strong will. If after a good period of time he is not coming forth with a good coordinated plan then we can point to him where he has gone wrong and if he refuses to listen, then we can do what the people do best during elections.
We need to give him time to coordinate those who will help him achieve his electoral promises. We must also note that this is beyond his ministerial appointees there are also other silent appointees that will be required for this task to take place. After he has appointed them he will still be needing time to sell his vision to them for proper coordination. Let’s all give him all the support to move Nigeria forward.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
God bless all Nigerian citizens.
God bless our President.
Ex Jigawa Gov. Lamido & Sons Remanded in Prison Custody | Will be Released on September 28
You will recall that Lamido and his sons were arrested by EFCC over an alleged N1.3 billion fraud.
Femi Fani-Kayode Discharged & Acquitted of Money Laundering Charges
You will recall that Fani-Kayode, whose trial began in 2008, was accused by the EFCC of laundering about N100 million while he was the Minister of Culture and Tourism and later, the Minister of Aviation. The alleged laundered sum was, however, reduced to N2.1 million on November 17, 2014 after 38 of the 40 counts leveled against Fani-Kayode were dismissed by the EFCC for lack of proof.
According to Vanguard, “EFCC prosecutor, Keyamo, urged the court to uphold the remaining two counts and to accordingly convict Fani-Kayode, and argued that the former minister had failed to exonerate himself of the allegations. Keyamo pointed out that the object of the charge was that Fani-Kayode transacted in cash sums above N500,000, which was the threshold stipulated by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. “
My visit to the US will strength US-Nigeria relationship - Buhari
President Buhari who is due to visit President Obama at the White House on July 20th says his visit to the White House will help strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and the US. Pres. Buhari said this while receiving the US Deputy Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken at the State House ahead of his July meeting with President Obama in Washington DC. Continue to see more photos.
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Boko Haram’s days are numbered —Buhari
As UN lauds Buhari’s determination to fight insurgents
By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief & Levinus Nwabughiogu, with agency reports
ABUJA— Troops of 3 Division of the Nigerian Army and officials of the Department of State Services, DSS, have arrested the mastermind of the coordinated bombings in Jos, Plateau State and Zaria, Kaduna State on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
President Muhammadu Buhari has, meantime, declared that the days of Boko Haram are numbered just as the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, commended his determination to fight Boko Haram
Military sources in Abuja said the terrorist kingpin responsible for the Jos and Zaria bombings was arrested at a checkpoint in Dadin Kowa, Gombe State.
The alleged mastermind was said to have disguised and hid in a trailer in order to beat security but was spotted by eagle-eyed members of the Special Task Force. He was arrested with two alleged accomplices.
“The arrested terrorists are currently being processed for further action and would soon face the full wrath of the law,” the source said.
The President leaving Katsina state for Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari
According to the source, the arrests were made possible by a swift action of the STF which established a security cordon in the general areas, especially along Bauchi, Gombe and the North Eastern part of the country immediately after the Jos blasts.
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists had carried out coordinated bomb and gun attacks on worshippers at Ýan Taya mosque, Dillimi Street, off Bauchi Road, Jos where worshipers had gathered for a Ramadan tafsir, and Shagalinku Restaurant, along Bauchi Road, Jos.
Forty eight persons were reportedly killed in the two attacks, while scores were also injured and property destroyed.
Similarly, terrorists carried out another bomb attack on hapless workers undergoing verification exercise at Sabon Gari Local Government Secretariat, Zaria Kaduna State which resulted in the death of over 25 people.
The source appealed to members of the public to be more vigilant, security conscious and report any suspicious persons, movements, and facilities to the security agencies to nip in the bud plots by terrorists to kill innocent Nigerians.
Ki-Moon commends Buhari
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, on Tuesday in New York, commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination in the fight against Boko Haram. Ki-Moon said in a statement that he had noted Buhari’s determination to root out the menace.
He also commended the countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin for their steadfast efforts in the fight against Boko Haram.
The UN chief strongly condemned the attacks by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin countries, including the deliberate targeting of Christian and Muslim worshippers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Borno and Yobe States.
He extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and further renewed his calls to support the operationalisation of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) through the provision of the requisite political, logistical and financial resources.
He also called for necessary expertise, consistent with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law.
Boko Haram’s days are numbered —Buhari
Meantime, President Buhari, yesterday, encouraged Nigerians not to despair over the continued Boko Haram attacks against the Nigerian state, assuring that insurgency will soon become history.
Buhari’s assurance followed his condolences to all Nigerians who lost relatives in the latest terrorist atrocities in Jos, Kano and Zaria recently.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President “urged all Nigerians not to be unduly disheartened by the seeming resurgence of terrorist attacks and atrocities in the country as his administration remains fully committed to overcoming the challenges of insecurity, terrorism and insurgency as quickly as possible.”
Shehu stated that “already, the intensified onslaught by the military on terrorists’ strongholds has led to significant seizures of weapons and vehicles, a blockage of their sources of arms and ammunition, and a decimation of their fighting men.
“Buhari assures Nigerians of the ability and readiness of the country’s armed forces and security agencies to contain the frantic resort by the terrorists to attacks on soft targets such as crowds and places of worship.
“The President is convinced that with recent increases in troops deployment, improvements in the supply of arms and equipment to the military, as well as the ongoing effort to mobilize greater international cooperation and support, the end of Boko Haram and terrorism in Nigeria is in sight.”
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