Buhari Terminates Oil Swap Agreements

”Your prayer 5 above approved – PMB”

With those words, President Muhammadu Buhari on 13th August cancelled the controversial offshore processing and oil swap deals initiated in January this year by the outgone administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The agreement was earlier billed to last till December 2016.

President Buhari’s approval is in a bid by the new leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure transparency and due process.

In a memo to the President on August 12, the NNPC sought approval to terminate all such current contracts following a presidential directive.

“This memo purports to seek Mr President’s approval to terminate all current Offshore Processing and SWAP contracts and commence a fresh re-tendering process to ensure transparency, due process and optimized contract terms in favour of the NNPC,” stated the letter signed by Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of NNPC.

Responding, the president approved the request in a memo dated August 13 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Nebolisa Emodi.

The NNPC currently swaps a part of its allotted 445,000 barrels of crude per day to some oil companies and in return receives refined products.

Oil swap derives from the fact that Nigeria’s four refineries operate mostly below 50% installed capacity and since 2003, the NNPC has continued to allocate them 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which corresponds to 100% capacity. The oil swaps have come under criticism following allegations that they have been opaque and the government has been short-changed in the deals.

In its audit between 2009 and 2012, the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that crude oil swap arrangements are not cost- effective, especially when compared to product prices and proceeds paid to the NNPC.

The audit exposed under-delivery of products by companies awarded such swap contracts to the tune of $866.189 million, and that this comprises Refined Products Exchange Arrangement of $500.075 million and Offshore Processing Arrangement of $366.114 million.
Civil society groups had repeatedly called for an end to the oil swap deals while also urging the Nigerian government to allocate to local refineries crude product based on operating capacity and the difference should be sold directly as crude.

The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) had in an advocacy position paper sent to the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) called on the National Assembly to do all in its powers to end oil swaps in Nigeria.

The House has, however, failed to progress on a motion moved in June by Michael Enyong (Akwa Ibom) seeking an “urgent need for a forensic investigation of the contracts known as Refined Product Exchange Agreement or Swap Contract.” The lawmaker had alleged that Nigeria has lost considerable revenue due to leakages in the accounting system and mismanagement of the economy.

“There is the need to ensure transparency and accountability by the NNPC in the management of revenue accruing to the nation from crude oil, particularly in the prevailing circumstances where major buyers of Nigeria’s crude oil such as the United States has discovered alternative sources,” he said.

With the presidential approval, the NNPC is expected to formally trigger the exit clauses in the current OPA contracts in order to close them and commence a fresh re-tendering process aimed at getting more favourable deals for the government.

http://dailytimes.com.ng/

BREAKING: Buhari sacks Head of Nigeria’s Budget Office, Bright Okogu

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday removed the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu, from office.

The reason for his removal remains unclear at press time.

In his place, Yahaya Gusau, whose details remains unknown at this time, has been appointed his successor. Details about Mr. Gusau

Until his appointment in December 2007, Mr. Okogu held several top positions, including Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Washington DC; Senior Operations Officer at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Fund and Market Analyst, OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.

He served as Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance (2004 to 2007) and also the pioneer Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Although he worked to deepen openness and transparency about the Nigerian budget for years, Mr. Okogu will also be remembered for failing to make details of the 2015 budget public several months after the budget proposal was presented to the National Assembly.

Journalists and analysts also told this newspaper at the time they were denied the details, amid speculations the government deliberately refused to publish them online or in hard copies as done in past years, to avoid embarrassing reports and analyses.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/

BREAKING: Buhari sacks Head of Nigeria’s Budget Office, Bright Okogu

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday removed the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu, from office.

The reason for his removal remains unclear at press time.

In his place, Yahaya Gusau, whose details remains unknown at this time, has been appointed his successor. Details about Mr. Gusau

Until his appointment in December 2007, Mr. Okogu held several top positions, including Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Washington DC; Senior Operations Officer at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Fund and Market Analyst, OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.

He served as Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance (2004 to 2007) and also the pioneer Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Although he worked to deepen openness and transparency about the Nigerian budget for years, Mr. Okogu will also be remembered for failing to make details of the 2015 budget public several months after the budget proposal was presented to the National Assembly.

Journalists and analysts also told this newspaper at the time they were denied the details, amid speculations the government deliberately refused to publish them online or in hard copies as done in past years, to avoid embarrassing reports and analyses.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/

BREAKING: Buhari sacks Head of Nigeria’s Budget Office, Bright Okogu

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday removed the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu, from office.

The reason for his removal remains unclear at press time.

In his place, Yahaya Gusau, whose details remains unknown at this time, has been appointed his successor. Details about Mr. Gusau

Until his appointment in December 2007, Mr. Okogu held several top positions, including Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Washington DC; Senior Operations Officer at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Fund and Market Analyst, OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.

He served as Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance (2004 to 2007) and also the pioneer Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Although he worked to deepen openness and transparency about the Nigerian budget for years, Mr. Okogu will also be remembered for failing to make details of the 2015 budget public several months after the budget proposal was presented to the National Assembly.

Journalists and analysts also told this newspaper at the time they were denied the details, amid speculations the government deliberately refused to publish them online or in hard copies as done in past years, to avoid embarrassing reports and analyses.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/

Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)

•  To give Sagay committee particulars of oil companies owing $7bn

Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Sunday said that it will give the new Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, all institutional supports needed to recover a certain $11.6 billion revenue from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) which NNPC allegedly failed to remit to the Federation Account.

Similarly, it indicated that it will present to the newly constituted presidential advisory committee against corruption particulars of oil and gas companies that are operating in Nigeria but still owing an outstanding $7 billion crude oil revenue to the country over the years as underpayments and under-assessments.

NEITI, which disclosed its delight with the ongoing restructuring at NNPC, said in a statement from its secretariat in Abuja that the constitution of the Prof. Itsay Sagay-led committee last week by President Muhammadu Buhari presents to it another opportunity to pursue the recovery of the fund, using such high level governmental framework.

The statement was signed by NEITI’s Director of Communication, Orji Ogbonnanya Orji, and it described the Sagay committee as a good platform for all the 21 anti-corruption agencies in the country which are coordinated by the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption (TUGAR) under the chairmanship of NEITI to share information and offer informed advice based on experiences garnered over the years in the fight against corrupt practices in Nigeria.

It said in this regards that: “One important issue that NEITI will be bringing to the table if given opportunity is how the committee can assist the government to recover over $7 billion owed by oil companies.

“These disclosures are contained in NEITI audit reports as cases of under payments, under assessments arising from subjective interpretation of MoUs and tax laws. We have no doubt that our contributions will add value to the work of the committee.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/

NEMA: More Fake IDPs Troop to Camps, as NHRC Expresses Concern

Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja 

Amidst several appeals by humanitarian and civil society organisations to the Nigerian government to intervene in the huge challenges facing the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Sunday that the major challenge facing the agency in its work -- with respect to the displaced persons, is “knowing who is an IDP and who is not.’’

On its part, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the security situation in the country had resulted in the displacement of millions of Nigerians, who now take refuge in inhabitable environments with serious threat to their mental and physical existence.

The two federal government’s agencies noted these points after a meeting at the weekend in Abuja to deliberate on the challenges facing the IDPs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other parts of the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary to the NHRC, Mr. Lambert Oparah, stated yesterday that the meeting was sequel to a letter of urgent national importance by his boss, Professor Bem Angwe, requesting NEMA to intervene in a matter affecting IDPs in the country, especially in Abuja.

According to Oparah, “NEMA Director-General, Muhammadu Sanni, who led the officials from NEMA, disclosed that a major challenge facing the agency in its work with respect to displaced persons is knowing who is an IDP and who is not.

“According to him, many people now troop to camps or find settlements in unoccupied areas in the name of IDPs with intent to get relief materials or attract sympathisers. However, he stressed that NEMA has set up camps in all the conflict areas, which he said have been receiving adequate attention from agency officials.’’

The NEMA’s boss was also quoted as saying that the humanitarian outlook of Nigeria is made more complex by frequent communal clashes, especially between pastoralists and farmers, which has displaced so many Nigerians from their comfort homes.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of NHRC has said that security must be balanced with human rights, calling for an urgent need for a stakeholders’ forum to address the IDPs issues in the country.

He said it was in an attempt to address some of the issues arising from IDPs camps that his agency in collaboration with the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) deployed 310 monitors in the north-east and north-central parts of the country to observe the human rights situation in those camps.

However, THISDAY gathered last night that a stakeholders’ meeting would be convened on Wednesday in Abuja, to address some of the identified issues.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/

Lagos Ex-govenor, Babatunde Fashola: When you wrestle with a pig...you get dirty."

Government websites require much more than putting up a web page. If we want to fight corruption, we should at least based our case on solid evidence and best practices not on guesses, emotional responses, and the lack of due diligence that is all over the Internet. You nail looters with clear facts not with the popular but often shallow "evidence" that is all over cyberspace.

The immediate past governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, has finally responded to the allegation that he approved a contract worth N78 million for the upgrade of his personal website.

Last weekend, analytic firm, BudgIT, revealed that Mr. Fashola approved, before he left office, a contract of N78.3 million from the state treasury for an upgrade of his personal website.

The news caused outrage among Nigerians who accused the former governor of financial recklessness and the misappropriation of public fund.

In a statement he personally signed on Thursday, Mr. Fashola admitted that indeed a contract valued at that amount was awarded, but it involves the provision of other services beyond the upgrade of the website.

Mr. Fashola’s statement comes on the heels of the denial by the contractor, Info Access Plus, that it received N78 million. The company said though it quoted N12.5 million for the upgrade of the website, www.fashola.com, it only received N10 million from the state government.

On Thursday, the former governor said only N12 million was actually awarded for the upgrade of the site while other services such as the handover countdown clock, mobile apps for Google, for iOS ipad, for Microsoft, and Blackberry and the annual maintenance cost for managing the site make up the total of N78 million.

He said due process was followed before the contract was awarded and that the procurement agency, PPA, did not raise any objection as at the time the contract was awarded.

“It was for these services that the contract was issued for N78 million, which the Lagos State procurement agency gave a No Objection based on the advice of the Ministry of Science and Technology, who are the government adviser on ICT matters.

“In publishing the contract award which was the government tradition under my watch, the procurement agency ‘s website summarized it as ‘upgrade’ only without detailing the other services and this has been distorted by the agents of hate as their suspected ‘smoking gun’”, he said.

On the accusation that the website was personal to him and that it was inappropriate to use a public fund for its maintenance, he said he site helped him to do his job as governor and to respond to the people.

“To date, there have been 27.666 million hits on this website, with 1,844 videos, 34,381 photographs, 2,531 Press releases and 595 speeches among other items of public communication.”

He then claimed that people have been paid “large amount of money” to deliberately distort allegations without evidence against him.

He said the website upgrade issue is the culmination of a string of other unfounded allegations against him that started emanating toward the end of his tenure in office.

Mr Fashola said he was first accused of fathering children from an extra-marital affair, accused of orchestrating a conspiracy in the National Assembly election and plunging the state into a deep debt crisis. He said the allegations are not only false but wicked.

“I have no biological children other than my two children,” he said.

He explained that he adopted three children who were orphaned as a result of the Dana Airplane crash of 2012. He said the adoption of the children followed due process.

He said the allegations of his involvement in the National Assembly election are “product of the imagination of those who made the allegations.” He said he was out of the country at the time and only returned to Abuja in the early hours of the morning of the election and proceeded to Lagos from there.

On the allegation that he entrapped the state in huge debt, he said the state has always been indebted and this is a reflection of the growing population of the state and that the state has been running deficit budgets for a long time to cater to the need of the growing population.

“All the debts contracted in my time were approved by the parliament in the annual budgets, some have been paid back and the financial status was healthy and stable when I left. The outlook for the state and her rating by Fitch was long-term foreign and local currency IDRs at ‘BB-, short-term IDR at ‘B and national long-term rating at ‘AA+(nga)”

The former Lagos governor also chastised persons who had written petitions against him to the presidency.
“I expect them to know that allegations of wrong doing are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in press conferences,” he said.