By: Ifeanyi Izeze<\/p>\n
Does it mean thesense of shame has been completely lost in this country by
\npeople holdingpositions of trust in and around government? How do you
\nreconcile that some highly-placedindividuals can come out to say there
\nwere no issues of contract awards raisedby the Minister of State
\nPetroleum, Ibe Kachikwu in his leaked memo toPresident Mohammadu Buhari
\nwho also doubles as the substantive PetroleumMinister? The broad day lies
\nbeing dangled by the government and its agents to changethe actual colour
\nand content of the leaked memo, is it not outright corruptionin itself?<\/p>\n
If thearrangements previously referred to as Offshore Crude Oil Processing
\nAgreements(OPAs) and Crude-for-Products Exchange and now known as Direct
\nSale-DirectPurchase Agreements (DSDP), are not contracts for crude oil
\nlifting in exchangefor imported petrol and diesel, what are they- cha cha
\n(gambling) abi?<\/p>\n
What exactly istransparent in a deal where crony local companies obviously
\nconnected topoliticians in the ruling party are paired with multinationals
\nsimply tocollect rent and share with political elites in government?<\/p>\n
Just see thefumbling of a mendacious bunch: Kachikwu in his memo alleged
\nthat Baru awardedcontracts worth about $25 billions without recourse to
\nthe board, or FederalExecutive Council (FEC).<\/p>\n
Buhari orderedBaru to respond to Kachikwu\u2019s allegations. The NNPC boss in
\nhis original response,did not deny awarding the controversial oil
\ncontracts but rather insisted thathe does not require Kachikwu\u2019s nor the
\nboard\u2019s approvals to enter into suchcontracts which are part of daily the
\nrunning of the nation\u2019s apex oil concern.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson tothe Vice President, Laolu Akande either was pushed or
\nwillingly accepted toannounce that his boss, Prof Osinbajo actually
\napproved two of thecontroversial oil contracts while the president was
\nattending to his ill healthin London. The Vice President came out few
\nhours later to deny what hisspokesperson said and disclosed he never
\napproved any oil contract but loansfor Joint Venture cash calls which is
\neven an entirely different story and adiscussion for another day.<\/p>\n
The last scenethus far was that the Presidency last Sunday, totally
\ndismissed reports that$25bn worth of oil contracts were awarded by the
\nNigerian National PetroleumCorporation (NNPC) saying\u00a0 \u201ca closer lookat
\neach of the said projects indicate clearly that \u201cthese are not
\nprocurementcontracts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is this storynot becoming increasingly interesting? First version, Buhari
\nsigned contractwhile in London; Second version Osinbajo signed the
\ncontract; Latest version,Presidency says no contract anywhere.Haba! How
\ndid we get to this point in the governance of this country?<\/p>\n
Even Baruadmitted awarding the controversial contracts, while Osinbajo
\nclarified therole he played. So how come spin doctors are coming to tell
\nus there were noissues of contract awards with the associated fraud and
\ncorruption thereof?<\/p>\n
As my Warri people would say:Bros see explanation by the Presidency: \u201cWhen
\nyou look diligently at thereferenced projects\/transactions one by one, you
\nwill see, as NNPC has shown,that none of them was actually a procurement
\ncontract. Take the Crude TermContract and the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase
\n(DSDP) agreements, for instance,these are not procurement contracts
\ninvolving the expenditure of public funds.It is therefore wrong and
\nmisleading to refer to them as though they\u2019recontracts involving the
\nexpenditure of NNPC funds, or public funds of anysort.\u201d \u2018Chai, who do
\nNigeria this\u2019?<\/p>\n
You see ourcountry! So Kachikwu lied in his memo; Baru lied in his initial
\nresponse thatBuhari approved with dates the contracts while in bed in
\nLondon; and the vicepresident through his spokesperson initially lied or
\nmade a mistake in sayinghe approved two of the contracts? Couldn\u2019t it have
\nbeen better if Nigerianswere dished with one turn-key corporate lie rather
\nthan these pockets ofunintelligent rations?<\/p>\n
How could thepresidency say there were no contracts procured by NNPC based
\non the leakedmemo by the Minister of State for Petroleum? Saying that such
\nimpressions weremaliciously created was an outright insult to our
\nsensibility as a nation. DidOsinbajo not read Kachikwu\u2019s letter with the
\nitemised sub-headings undercontracts? Was it maliciously created by the
\npress or the opposition? Was itnot Kachikwu who in his memo described
\nthese deals as contracts? So theminister does not know what a contract is?
\nHow can you then turn around to sayit was maliciously created by the press
\nand the opposition? The dealshighlighted under that heading, if they are
\nnot contracts, what are they- cha-cha?<\/p>\n
The fuel subsidyscam of the Jonathan era, were they not mostly crude oil
\nlifting deals similarto these ones by Baru?\u00a0 And you aretelling us these
\nare not contracts. Any business transaction between entitiesmore
\nespecially the government is a contract because there are
\ncontractualobligations to be fulfilled by the parties and profits\/benefits
\nto be derivedfrom such arrangements.<\/p>\n
Ibe Kachikwulisted concerns up to the tune of $25 billion and the only
\nthing Baru and thePresidency could do is to paint a cover up. If Osinbajo
\nagreed that he signedfor Baru some loan deals for joint venture cash call
\nobligation, how muchexactly did he approved and what percentage is the
\napproved money (loans) inthe $25 billion sum total of the secret
\ncontracts? How much is the vicepresident\u2019s approval covering for these
\nscams? As the VP has agreed he approvedN640 billion which is just about $2
\nbillion for JV cash calls, who approved thebalance of over $23 billion for
\nBaru and his NNPC?<\/p>\n
Saying thatthese contracts are not about public funds is outright rubbish.
\nIt is not aboutpublic funds, it is about deals that has remained the drain
\npipe of the massivecorruption in the NNPC and the entire Nigerian oil
\nsector. Does anybody getinto a deal without expecting to make profit and
\nit is in these \u201cprofits\u201d thatour oil monies have been stolen massively by
\nthose in and around government. Soby telling us that these deals are not
\npaid for in cash is simply insulting ourintelligence.<\/p>\n
A lot of thesedeals are paid for through crude oil liftings. You ask a
\ncontractor to come andlift the oil equivalent of his money in the deal, is
\nthe contractor going to dischargethe oil in his recreational swimming
\npool? Is he not going to sell the oil tomake money to cover his expenses
\nand profits? Everything we call corruption inNigeria come from deals like
\nthis where people in and around government build-intheir criminal
\ninterests rather than our collect interests as a nation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, thesubstantive minister of petroleum who should take
\nresponsibility and account tous what really transpired has remained dead
\nsilent on this matter.<\/p>\n
It will shockNigerians to know that what is involved in this racket is
\nover 600, 000 barrelsof crude oil on daily basis being picked by
\ninternational traders in exchangefor imported petrol and diesel alone.
\nThis is the same NNPC that wants us tobelieve that the nation\u2019s three and
\nhalf refineries have been working at over65 percent cumulative capacity
\nutilisation.<\/p>\n
Now that thebubble is bursting in the ongoing fraud, the NNPC has come out
\nto inform usthat the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries have been
\nshut down forTurn-Around-Maintenance. Has it ever happened in this country
\nthat the threeplants will be shut down at the same day for TAM and does it
\neven make a soundengineering management sense? The truth is that the
\nrefineries were not workingin the first instance. That a plant is flamed
\n-up like what Kaduna does dailydoes not mean it is processing anything.
\nOfcourse how can our refineriesprocess anything when it is more lucrative
\nin Nigeria to do deals and collectrents. God help Nigeria!<\/p>\n