Monday, 7 September 2015

Buhari Receives Report From NNPC

President Buhari has received a report from Ibe Kachikwu, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), saying that the NNPC has already recovered $277 million during a review of crude oil swap deals under the previous government of Goodluck Jonathan. 

 The assessment continues, but so far $420 million is confirmed as the total amount due to Nigeria.
READ ALSO: Buhari Cancels Oil Swap Deal
Out of that figure, $277m has been paid to the NNPC already, a statement from the presidency said, terming the crude swap deals “toxic”.

The Buhari administration has said that under the previous government the swap agreements, involving the exchange of crude oil for refined fuel, were notoriously fraudulent.
READ ALSO: 
The NNPC said it had also begun the process of recuperating over $7bn in over-deducted tax benefits from oil companies.
Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, also said the state oil company had ‘commenced Performance Measurement & Benchmarking as well as Value for Money Review of NNPC and the JV Companies covering the period 2008 – 2013′.
Shehu further cited the report as saying ‘a reputable International Accounting Firm has been engaged by the NNPC to determine the exact amount due government on the Strategic Alliance Contracts entered by NPDC, where up to $2.46 billion of government money is to be recovered’.
He said: “It (the report) also revealed that consequent upon an extensive investigation of the various toxic crude oil for refined products swap contracts, a total sum of $420 million has so far been reconciled in favour of NNPC and is now due for recovery from the legacy OPA/SWAP contracts. Out of the reconciled amount, the sum of $277 million has been recovered in lieu of products and the recovery effort is still ongoing, the source added.
“According to the report , the GMD of NNPC is committed to continued review of all existing contracts and addressing the ones that are not favourable to the Corporation. It was noted that significant cost reductions are also expected to ensure the Corporation remains profitable in the prevailing low crude oil price regime.
“He added that progress is being made toward bringing back the nation’s refineries to full production, noting that the management of the NNPC is working to ensure that this happens before the end of this year.
“If this is completed, the report said, it is expected to achieve an annual savings of about $1billion worth of foreign exchange from fuel import substitution and additional total saving of over $500 million annually will be made from the petrochemical products of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company.
“The report also disclosed that efforts at repositioning the NNPC have started yielding result on the nation’s economy. According to its content, gas supply to the power plants that had hitherto been handicapped by the supply of much-needed gas, has improved significantly from about 630 to 861 million standard cubic feet per day, which has resulted in a more steady power supply being witnessed in the country.
“Indeed, the report revealed that gas supply for power and peak generation have in recent times reached a historical high of 876 million standard cubic feet per day and 4,782 Mega Watts respectively.”
Crude oil swaps for refined petroleum products became controversial after concerned Nigerians such as Lamido Sanusi, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and some regulatory agencies, principally the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, criticised the deals as lacking transparency and accountability.
President Buhari all oil swap deals agreed by his predecessor Jonathan.
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You Can't Sack Us: NDDC Board Drags Buhari To Court


Members of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board, have dragged President Muhammadu Buhari to court for sacking them.

According to former NDDC executives, by virtue of sections 2, 3 and 5 of the NDDA Establishment Act, they are entitled to an unbroken four-year tenure from December 16, 2013 to December 15, 2017 and so they can’t be fired at this point in time, Vanguard reports.
They added that they cannot be deprived of their appointments, or removed from office, dissolved or their appointments terminated except in accordance with the extant provisions of the said Act.
They have asked the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, to declare that the president has no powers to sack them as their appointments are governed by statutes and is for a fixed period, which is yet to expire.

READ ALSO: Corruption: Furious Buhari Summons NDDC Management
Recently, there were circulars from the office of secretary to the government of the federation, dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2 that all boards stand dissolved.

Defendants in this court case are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Members of the board, led by Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, through their counsel, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegborowa said: “By virtue of the NDDC Establishment Act, the Governing Board of the commission cannot be dissolved, either through the letters dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2, respectively, or in any other manner that constitutes a violation of sections 2,3,5 and other extant provisions of the said NDDC Act.”
They are praying the court to declare the letters “invalid, null and void and of no effect whatsoever, in so far as they relate to the dissolution of the said Governing Board.

READ ALSO: Probe: NDDC Management To Meet Buhari
“An order forthwith re-instating the claimants as members of the 4th Governing Board of the NDDC in compliance with their respective letters of appointment and sections 2, 3, 5 and other extant provisions of the NDDC Establishment Act and to direct the second defendant to pay all allowances, benefits and perquisites to which the claimants are otherwise entitled.”
On August 26, President Muhammadu Buhari had a meeting with the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to clarify the issues surrounding an alleged missing N183.7 billion from the commission’s coffers.

Reports by the auditor-general of the federation had revealed that certain fictitious multi-billion naira contracts were awarded, paid and backdated to last year, in a bid to cover alleged financial misdeeds.
even after the board had been sacked with a specific mandate to the managing director to take over.
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Mikel Obi Beg Eagles for recall



A reports by the Sun Newspaper reveals that Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi is very desperate to get into the national team that he has started making calls to top officials of the  Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The Sun informs that Mikel called officials of the NFF who hail from the northern part of the country speaking in Hausa language and begging the officials to plead with Coach Sunday Oliseh to forgive him for missing his calls.

Mikel Obi was said to have missed Oliseh’s calls when he visited London to meet with players like Victor Moses, Carl Ikeme to ensure there commitment to the Super Eagles. While Victor Moses replied the Eagles trainer’s calls, Mikel did not and this led to his exclusion from the Super Eagles squad.

READ ALSO: Mikel, Song And The African Players Who Need To Change Clubs
In his call with he NFF officials, Mikel allegedly wept on the phone and begged to be recalled to the team as his inactivity in football is stalling his once fledgling career.
According to the report, Mikel ‘reckons that his career could be over if he was not in­vited to the national team.’

The NFF however is said to be divided whether to call the one time African footballer of the year runner up.

It would be recalled that Mikel Obi was embroiled in a parenthood controversy. It was reported that the Chelsea midfielder fathered two children after short relationships with two women.
He has a four-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter.
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