{"id":46569,"date":"2016-02-17T11:26:54","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T10:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=46569"},"modified":"2016-02-17T11:26:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T10:26:54","slug":"diezani-approved-24bn-crude-swap-without-contract-ex-nnpc-gmd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/diezani-approved-24bn-crude-swap-without-contract-ex-nnpc-gmd\/","title":{"rendered":"Diezani Approved $24bn Crude Swap Without Contract \u2013Ex NNPC GMD"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Austin Oniwon, has said there was no formal contract between the NNPC and trading companies that lifted $24bn worth of crude oil from the country between 2011 and 2014.<\/p>\n

Oniwon told the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap on Tuesday that a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, merely granted the \u201cextension\u201d of an earlier contract.<\/p>\n

He said the extension was not a formal contract before he (Oniwon) left office in 2012.<\/p>\n

The committee is chaired by an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kwara State, Mr. Zakari Mohammed.
\n\u201cThere was an approval for the extension by the minister; I believe the records are with the NNPC,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The NNPC began taking 445,000 barrels of crude daily in 2010 for refining in a bid to meet the country\u2019s local demand of petroleum products.<\/p>\n

But when the country\u2019s refineries failed to run, the NNPC resorted to exchanging the crude (swap) for refined products through an arrangement with appointed crude trading firms.<\/p>\n

The original (first) contract was signed between the NNPC and two crude traders, Duke Oil and Tranfigura in 2010 to last for one year. It expired officially in 2011.<\/p>\n

However, Alison-Madueke reportedly granted an extension of the contract without the NNPC formally signing another contract on the new (second) deal.<\/p>\n

The committee had earlier heard from the firms that crude lifting indeed continued till 2014 before a contract was formalised.<\/p>\n

One of the lawmakers, Mr. Michael Enyong, said, \u201cThese companies had lifted crude worth $24bn before the contract was signed in 2014 and backdated to look like it was signed in 2011 when the first one expired.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee had put Oniwon under pressure after he consistently told members that there was no \u201cbreach\u201d in the exchange arrangements throughout his tenure.<\/p>\n

When he was reminded that there were evidence indicating that the contract expired in 2011, but it continued to run till 2014, Oniwon replied that Alison-Madueke \u201capproved\u201d the extension.<\/p>\n

Oniwon also argued that as GMD of the NNPC, he did not require a presidential and Federal Executive Council approval to enter into the swap arrangements.<\/p>\n

According to Oniwon, the 445,000 barrels of crude were the property of the NNPC, which it bought from the Federal Government at the prevailing rate for refining.<\/p>\n

He added that the swap crude was different from the Federation Crude, the latter being entirely the property of the government.
\nBesides, he stated that only 150,000 barrels out of the 445,000 were traded under the swap deals.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI am not a lawyer, but I didn\u2019t need anybody\u2019s approval to take crude to the refinery for refining if the refineries were running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis crude had been paid for by the NNPC. If I needed to take the crude for exchange, I am not going to write the Federal Government. It is NNPC\u2019s decision on what to do to guarantee regular supply of products in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the whole essence of the swap arrangement; to ensure that we had adequate products, which we achieved successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the committee insisted that the NNPC under Oniwon and the former minister breached procurement procedures by engaging in a transaction worth well above N100m without FEC\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Oniwon stood his grounds that he did not feel the NNPC required another approval, since the minister, \u201cthe immediate boss\u201d, had approved the crude swap arrangement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was supposed to be a higher approval, it was the minister who should seek the approval, not the NNPC,\u201d Oniwon added.<\/p>\n

When asked what was the spending or approval limit of the GMD, Oniwon replied, \u201cIt was put at $10m.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oniwon\u2019s successor, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, also appeared before the committee to say that he made efforts to review the swap arrangement with a view to correcting noticeable lapses, but that he was frustrated.<\/p>\n

Yakubu, who assumed office as GMD on June 27, 2012, disclosed that he set up a team of experts from the legal and corporate divisions of the NNPC to carry out the review after which he sent a report to Alison-Madueke.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAmong the issues we raised were the controversies generated by the swap arrangement, the need for contract valuation and how to improve on it to be more beneficial to our operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI forwarded a report to the minister in April 2014 and the document never came to me until my removal (as GMD) was announced by 9pm on August 1, 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yakubu advised the National Assembly to give more protection to the headship of the NNPC as a national oil company so that it could perform optimally at all times.<\/p>\n

He noted that the current set-up, whereby the GMD\u2019s tenure was left to the pleasure of the appointing authorities, called for an urgent review.<\/p>\n

The committee directed the NNPC to search its records and produce Yakubu\u2019s report.
\nMembers also asked the corporation to produce evidence of the extension of the contract Alison-Madueke granted without a formal contract.<\/p>\n

Punch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Austin Oniwon, has said there was no formal contract between the NNPC and trading companies that lifted $24bn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nDiezani Approved $24bn Crude Swap Without Contract \u2013Ex NNPC GMD - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/diezani-approved-24bn-crude-swap-without-contract-ex-nnpc-gmd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diezani Approved $24bn Crude Swap Without Contract \u2013Ex NNPC GMD - 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