ARISE O NIGERIANS (V)

[Salimonu Kadiri]

On paper, ​the President of Nigeria is very powerful, but in reality, his power is strongly curtailed by the Legislative and Judicial arms of the Government. When majority members of the legislature belong to the same political party as the President, the executive and legislative powers are expected to work amicably together in order to accomplish the manifestoes of the Party on which the electorates gave Presidential power and legislative majority to the party in the Legislature. As stated in part (IV), President Muhammadu Buhari identified the major obstacles to socio-economic development of Nigeria, particularly, corruption. His predecessor in office, President Goodluck Jonathan, also identified corruption as a major cause of underdevelopment and poverty in Nigeria. Thus, in paragraph 30 of his inaugural speech as President, on 29 May 2011, Goodluck Jonathan promised, "Fellow citizens, in every decision, I shall always place the common good before all else. The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination, to rid our nation of this scourge. The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the collective growth of our commonwealth." President Jonathan's political party, PDP, was in majority in the National Assembly yet, corruption which he declared as a scourge to be expunged out of Nigeria escalated.

Illegal acquisition of money (wealth) is called corruption by Nigerians. Where illicit acquisition of money is mostly paramount in Nigeria is the crude oil sector, generally referred to as the heart or engine of the Nation's economy. Nigeria is a crude oil exporting country but it is the only member of OPEC that imports fuel. In the 2011 budget, N245 billion was budgeted for fuel subsidy but as at December 2011, over N2.6 trillion had been paid as fuel subsidy without supplementary appropriated budget. In normal countries, the government would have been forced to resign for exceeding budget allocation without legislative approval, but not in Nigeria. Instead, President Jonathan who had vowed that in every decision he would always place the common good of the citizens before anything else decided to hike the pump price of petrol (premium motor spirit =PMS) from N65 to N141 in order to reduce the cost of subsidy. Protesters against the fuel hike, especially in the North and West, were confronted with police bullets whereby about 20 protesters shot dead. Subsequent enquiries by the House of Reps and Jonathan's own appointed commission on fuel subsidy, led by Nuhu Ribadu, revealed that seventy-one (71) companies jointly collected from the government the sum of N230.184 billion for PMS (fuel) volume of (3,262,960,225) 3billion, 262 million, 960 thousand and 225 litres that were never supplied. As if dazzled to disbelieve Farouk Lawan's House of Reps and Nuhu Ribadu's report, President Jonathan on July 5, 2012 set up a 15-man panel known as Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Subsidy Payments to scrutinise and investigate subsidy payments made by the Federal Government to fuel importers, the so-called Nigerian Oil Marketers. The Chairman of the Committee was Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc. By 24 July 2012, he submitted his Committee's report to President Jonathan confirming that 71 fuel importing companies had collected a total sum of three-hundred and eighty-two billion naira (N382) as subsidy from the Federal Government without importing or supplying any fuel. The office responsible to approve fuel importing companies in Nigeria is Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). The number of fuel importers in Nigeria, it was revealed, rose from five (5) in 2006 to ten (10) in 2007, to nineteen (19) in 2008 and to one-hundred and forty (140) in 2011, according to the PPPRA list of approved fuel importers. Over a half of PPRA's approved fuel importers in 2011 existed only on paper but they were collecting millions or billions for fuel subsidies, which were neither imported nor supplied, from the Federal Government. 

The House of Representatives investigation on Fuel subsidy led by Farouk Lawan in early 2012 was conducted in the public and it revealed a lot of state robberies that would have caused uprising in any normal country but not in Nigeria. The House of Reps wanted to know from officials of the oil sector how much was the daily consumption of petrol (PMS) in Nigeria, in 2011. The petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke said it was 52 million litres per day; The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Austin Oniwon, said Nigeria's daily consumption was 35 million litres. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said the daily consumption was 43 million litres while the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA said it was 24 million litres per day. On her part, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, told the House of Reps investigators that the daily consumption of fuel in Nigeria was 40 million litres. Remarkably, Reginald Stanley, the Executive Secretary of PPPRA, whose duty was to verify and recommend fuel subsidy payments to the Minister of Finance, told the House of Reps Committee that although the real consumption of fuel per day was 24 million litres, 59 million litres daily consumption was actually being paid for, implying payment for a ghost supply in excess of 35 million litres of fuel per day. The next question was, how much was paid as fuel subsidy as at the end of December 2011? The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said it was N1.3 trillion; Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said it was N1.4 trillion; while the Deputy Governor of Cental Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, said it was N1.7 trillion. However, at a Senate hearing on Monday, 2 July 2012, the honourable Federal Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Nigerian Economy, Dr Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated that a total of N2.190 trillion was paid as fuel subsidy for the budget year 2011. She gave the breakdown as follows :  At the end of 2011, N1. 700 trillion was paid and the arears from 2011 paid in 2012 was N490 billion. The budget for 2011 fuel subsidy was exceeded without any supplementary appropriation by almost 900% and heaven did not fall in Nigeria. Both Nuhu Ribadu's and Farouk Lawan's investigation listed briefcase buccaneers with known names in Nigeria who collected millions/billions of naira for fuel subsidy from the Federal Government without importing and supplying any fuel. The systematic siphonage of Nigeria's commonwealth in the fuel subsidy bazaar cut across the ethno-religious boundaries in Nigeria and few examples from major ethno-religious elites that participated in the fuel subsidy frauds in 2011 will help to show the ethno-religious elites' treason against Nigeria and her people.

The name of the last Military Head of State in Nigeria is General Abdulsalami Abubakar who hailed from Niger State, the same state as General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. On May 29, 1999, General Abubakar handed over power to a civilian regime headed by a retired but not a tired General, Olusegun Obasanjo. Ex-General Abubakar is a member of Federal Council of State chaired by every current President and he enjoys a gigantic pension package as a retired General and Head of State. In 2003, ex-General Abdulsalami Abubakar incorporated a company called Maizube Petroleum Limited (MPL) with a one million naira share capital. While ex-General Abubakar held a controlling share of 600,000 naira, the remaining 400,000-naira share was evenly shared between one Abubakar Isa A. and Abubakar Aminu A., who were either General Abubakar's sons, or closed relations or fictitious names? Thus, the Directors of Maizube Petroleum Limited are Abdulsalami Abubakar, Abubakar Isa A. and Abubakar Aminu A. In 2011, Ex-former Head of State, General Abubakar collected the sum of 5 billion, 509 million, 407 thousand and 903 naira (N5,509,407,903) from the federal government as fuel subsidy payment for importation and supply of 63 million, 474 thousand and 66 litres (63,474,066) of petrol. Both Farouk Lawan's and Aigboje Imuokhuede's enquiries found that MPL's fuel subsidy claim was fraudulent as there was no trace of importation into Nigeria and supply of 63,474,066 litres of petrol by MPL anywhere in Nigeria. 

The Minister of Aviation under President Jonathan in 2011 was Mrs. Stella Adaeze Oduah but at the same time, she was also a Director in Sea Petroleum and Gas Company Limited (SPG) where she owned a share of 1billion, 999million naira (N1,999,000,000) out of 2billion naira while the rest was shared by other co-directors named as Elisabeth Stewart, Josephine Oduah and Erotimi Buwa. The 2012 fuel subsidy enquiries discovered that the Minister of Aviation's Company, SPG, fraudulently received from the Federal Government the sum of 1 billion, 19 million, 571 thousand and 609-naira (N1, 019, 571, 609) by claiming to have imported into Nigeria and supplied 59 million, 841 thousand, and 476 (59,841,476) litres of petrol. In what appeared to be if a woman in government can defraud and commit theft of commonwealth, a man can do it better, the Minister of Labour and Productivity in President Jonathan's government, Chief Emeka Wogu, had a company named Pinnacle Contractors Limited. Owners of Pinnacle Contractors Limited are : Chief Emeka Wogu with a 750,000-naira share, Mrs Oyebabefe Wogu with a 150,000-naira share, and Mr. Enyinnaya Wogu with a 100,000-naira share. On two occasions in 2011, the Minister of Labour and Productivity through his company, Pinnacle Contractors Limited, collected fuel subsidy payments from the Federal government in the sum of N1.2 billion and N1.5 billion respectively for imported and supplied fuel. However, the Presidential Committee on Verification of Fuel Subsidy Payments discovered that Pinnacle Contractors Limited was not qualified to import and supply fuel in Nigeria since it was not registered, as required by law, with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Moreover, the vessels listed by Pinnacle Contractors Limited as having delivered fuel in Nigeria could not be found anywhere in the world and never had berthed in any port in Nigeria. Thus, Pinnacle Contractors Limited, owned chiefly by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, was ordered by the Presidential Committee to refund N2.7 billion fraudulently received from the Federal government by supplying ghost fuel.

Mike Adenuga is the sole owner of Con Oil Plc. He is said to be a very tight friend of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar since the latter's days as Deputy Director of Customs. Their friendship persisted under Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency when the ex-Vice President presided over privatisation of Nigeria's national asset. When Obasanjo discovered that he had been allocated a fox share of the privatisation of commonwealth to private individual's wealth, he roared, though unsuccessfully, to demand a lion share as the President. As the conflict between Obasanjo and Atiku escalated the former sought the support of Mike Adenuga who, however, chose to be loyal to his old-time friend, Atiku. When the executive fire of Obasanjo was about to roast Mike Adenuga to death, he fled to Britain and did not return to Nigeria until Obasanjo left office in 2007. For the sake of Nigeria's tribalists and religionists, it is worth pointing out that both Mike Adenuga and Mathew Olusegun Obasanjo are both Yoruba and Christians from the same state, Ogun, while Atiku Abubakar is a Muslim Hausa/Fulani from Adamawa State. However, the Presidential Committee on Fuel Subsidy payment found that Mike Adenuga's Con Oil Plc fraudulently collected fuel subsidy payment of 3billion, 27million, 526 thousand and 589-naira (N3,027,526,589) by claiming to have imported and supplied ghost petrol of 46 million, 664 thousand and 121 (46,664,121) litres.

On October 19, 2011, Master Energy, Oil and Gas Limited claimed that a vessel named MT Zen Star docked on Nigerian waters with 58,000 metric tonnes of petrol imported with another Nigerian company, Caades Oil and Gas Limited. Master Energy Oil and Gas Limited claimed that the said vessel discharged 28, 000 metric tonnes of petrol for which the company demanded N2.9 billion fuel subsidy payment from the Federal Government and received it. The Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payments uncovered that no vessel named MT Zhen Star docked on Nigerian waters on 19 October 2011, and further investigations showed that there was no registered vessel anywhere in the world with that name. Curiously, it was the same vessel Pinnacle Contractors Ltd claimed to have delivered fuel in Nigeria, in 2011, for which it was paid N2.7 billion. Yet, Pinnacle Contractors Ltd was not registered at Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) until 30 November 2012 a condition that should be fulfilled before any company can obtain approval from PPPRA to import fuel. Thereafter, Pinnacle Contractors Ltd appeared on the website of Master Energy Oil and Gas Limited as a subsidiary. All together both companies collected N5.6 billion the Federal government as subsidy payment for unimported and unsupplied fuel.

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee Investigation Committee on Fuel Subsidy on 18 April 2012 indicted Femi Otedola's companies, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Synopsis Enterprise Ltd, for having fraudulently obtained from the Federal government the sum of $6.7 billion as fuel subsidy. However, and according to Femi Otedola, the Chairman of the House of Reps Ad-hoc Committee, Farouk Lawan contacted him to solicit for $3 million bribe in order to delist the name of his companies from the list of fuel subsidy fraudsters. Mr. Otedola contacted the DSS whereby call logs between Otedola and Lawan were recorded. This was followed by sting operation in which the DSS installed security cameras in Otedola's living room. Otedola promised to pay part of the $3 million bribe (a little over halve a million dollars) and the rest at a later date. On 21 April 2012, Farouk Lawan arrived at the home of Femi Otedola at 23:00:00 hours to collect DSS marked dollars of 250,000. On 23 April 2012, at 5:05:00 hours, when Farouk Lawan as a Muslim should be on the mat with his rosary praying to Allah, was instead at Femi Otedola's house to collect the second batch of $250.000. For Farouk Lawan from a Sharia law governed state in Nigeria, it was dollars before Allah or as the saying goes, Dollar Akbar!!  Exactly at the same time in the morning of 24 April 2012, Farouk visited Otedola's house again to collect further, $100,000. Every collection was video-recorded. During the House of Reps Plenary Discussion on Subsidy Report on the morning of 24 April 2012, Otedola's two companies had been delisted from indicted list of firms by Farouk Lawan. When it became public that Farouk Lawan was video-filmed while collecting bribes in Femi Otedola's house, Lawan admitted collecting the bribe under pressure from the bribe giver and that his intention was to present the bribe to the House as evidence. That could not be true as only few marked dollars were retrieved from Farouk who claimed he had been robbed of the rest dollars. Farouk Lawan could have sounded credible if he had not delisted Otedola's companies from the list of companies that corruptly enriched themselves through fraudulent subsidy payments. It has been suggested that the intention of Femi Otedola and the DSS was to rubbish the House of Reps' report that seemed so damaging to the petrol pump price hike proposed by Jonathan, and not Farouk Lawan himself, otherwise he could have been arrested, at least during his last visit to Otedola's home to collect the $100,000. On Friday, 15 June 2012, the House of Reps at an emergency meeting adopted a resolution to re-enlist Otedola's Zenon Oil and Gas Ltd as well as Synopsis Enterprise Ltd on the list of companies that fraudulently swindled the Federal Government of fuel subsidy fund. On February 1, 2013, Farouk Lawan was charged to Court for soliciting and receiving bribes from Otedola. He was granted bail and the case remains inconclusive till date. It is very likely that some other fuel subsidy fraudsters were approached by Farouk Lawan for bribes in exchange for being delisted and they agreed secretly without reporting to the DSS or EFCC as Femi Otedola did. That suspicion is premised on the fact that although Farouk Lawan's House of Reps enquiry into fuel subsidy fraud did not include Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited,  the Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy Payments led by Aigboje Imuokhuede listed the company as having fraudulently collected 43 billion, 291 million, 43 thousand,936-naira, 54 kobo (N43,291,043,936. 00) as fuel subsidy from the Federal government for importing and supplying 538.74 million litres of petrol. The Director General of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, was on Thursday, 25 July 2013, granted perpetual injunction, by Justice Abdul Kafarati, prohibiting the EFCC and any other investigating agencies in Nigeria from arresting him and his collaborators over fuel subsidy fraud, 2011. The case is still ongoing as of date. The fuel subsidy enquiry in Nigeria, 2012, revealed a broad-based collusive corruption, a phenomenon whereby few ethno-religious cliques took care of one another at the expense of Nigerian masses. Reality shone stark on the face of President Goodluck Ebelechukwu Jonathan that his government was subsidising the plunder of Nigeria's collective patrimony and that he had to take action. (To be continued).

S. Kadiri  

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

When protesters against fuel prices hike in the North & West were shot dead by the police under Jonathan did Biko Agozino raise his voice (or pen) against the killings as he would normally do if these happened in the East?

Now we know the real cause of the enmity between Atiku and Obasanjo.

With the latitude of the mind- boggling  corruption under Jonathan's rule is Toyin Adepoju now pacified that his hero has not been unjustly booted out of office?  And we are not even talking yet of his personal involvement in corruption in the recent revelations of the collusion between the Air Peace of Onyema and the office of the First Lady under Jonathan.

OAA

Mr President you swore an oath to rule according to the Constitution.

Where are the schools to promote the teaching of the country's lingua francas?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/BN7PR06MB40683728EE73EBADF9CD8618AE2F0%40BN7PR06MB4068.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.