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Catalogue of Lootings in Nigeria: How Corruption Under PDP Became Child’s Play Under APC

Published

11 months ago

June 11, 2023

Eric

By Femi Falana SAN

1. Diversion of N40 billion from Federation Account

A company, Continental Transfert Technique had been hired by the Ministry of Interior to collect the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card (CERPAC) Fee of $2,000 per annum from every expatriate in Nigeria. The revenue from 2019 comes to an average of N40 billion per annum. This collection which violates Section 162 of the Constitution and provisions of the Immigration Act 2015, is then shared on percentages of Federal Government, 30, Interior Ministry, 7, Immigration Service, and Continental Transfert Technique, 58 per-cent.

We challenged this illegality at the Federal High Court and won the cases. The court directed the NIS to collect the funds henceforth and remit same to the Federation Account. But the contractor and the federal government appealed against the judgment and have continued to share the N40 billion per annum.

2. Additional Revenue of $1.5 billion payable to Federation Account

In July 2015, I drew the attention of the Federal Government to the fact that the 15-year fiscal incentives given to the oil and gas companies operating under the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act had expired in June 2014. When the Federal Government ignored our request, we drafted a Bill for the amendment of the law. The Bill which was adopted and sponsored by Senator T. Orji scaled the first reading in the Senate but was not passed before the dissolution of the 8th National Assembly.

However, the same Bill was modified and passed by both houses of the 9th National Assembly and assented to by President Buhari on November 4, 2019. In justifying the passage of this Bill, Senate President Ahmed Lawan announced that the new law would increase the revenue of the nation by not less than $1.5 billion per annum.

3. Outstanding royalties of $62 billion

In campaigning for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, I requested the Federal Government to collect outstanding royalties payable by the International Oil Companies under the Act. The Federal Government admitted that the country had lost a whopping sum of $60 billion. But my demand for the collection of the huge fund was ignored.

The governments of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States then approached the Supreme Court which on October 20, 2018 ordered the Federal Government to collect the royalties for the past 18 years. The Federal Government confirmed that the outstanding royalty withheld by the IOCs is $62 billion but has refused to collect it.

4. FG denied revenue of $500 million by a group of corrupt public officers

The international Cargo Tracking Note Scheme to protect international shipping and prevent the movement of dangerous cargo and arms shipments was introduced into Nigeria in 2010 via an agreement between the Nigerian Port Authority and TPMS, a private company. Barely a year later, the agreement was suspended. When our attention was drawn to the illegal suspension of the Cargo Tracking Note system, we protested and the suspension was lifted on May 28, 2015 only to be suspended again in 2016.

In 2022, President Buhari issued an executive order which authorized a company to operate the Cargo Tracking Note. But 5 companies sponsored by top government functionaries overruled the President and hijacked the contract. The company that won the contract has since sued the federal government at the Federal High Court. Meanwhile, Nigeria has lost at least $500 million while the security of the nation has been compromised by a bunch of corrupt public officers.

5. Sale of public assets and enterprises

Successive regimes have been selling assets and enterprises owned by the Federal Government to members of the ruling class in the name of privatisation. The buyers turned round to engage in asset stripping. According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, between 2004 and 2002, the federal government sold 142 public enterprises to members of the ruling class.
The 10 per cent shares reserved for the staff of every privatised enterprise have been cornered by the so called “core investors” contrary to the provision of section 5(3) òf the Privatization and Commercialization Act.

6. $7 billion fixed in 14 banks

Sometime in 2006, the CBN yanked off $7 billion from the nation’s foreign reserves and fixed it in 14 commercial banks in Nigeria. The deposit and the accrued interests were not recovered from the banks. When I reported the matter to one one of the anti-graft agencies, the CBN claimed that it had forgiven “the forbearance”.

7. Sale of Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank by CBN

The CBN took over Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank, spent trillions of Naira to revitalise them only to turn round to sell them under the table. For instance, CBN invested N1.3 trillion in Polaris Bank but sold it for N50 billion!

8. Theft of Crude oil

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020. Immediate past National Security Adviser, General Babagana said that Nigeria might lose $23 billion in 2023 to crude oil theft.

9. Theft of gold and other solid minerals

The theft of the nation’s mineral resources is not limited to crude as solid minerals are equally smuggled out of the country by highly placed criminal elements. Former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Ogah recently disclosed that private jets are being used by the rich for gold smuggling in Nigeria. He stated this at an investigative hearing on $9 billion annual loss to illegal mining and smuggling of gold organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel Development and Metallurgy. During his contribution at the hearing, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu disclosed that Nigeria lost close to $54b from 2012-2018 due to illegal smuggling of gold.

10. AMCON is owed N5.4 trillion by the rich

A few years ago, commercial banks were going to collapse due to toxic loans taken by members of the ruling class. To prevent the impending economic doom, the Federal Government set up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to buy off the loans with trillions of Naira provided by the CBN. AMCON has not been able to recover the loans of N5.4 trillion from about 370 corporate bodies.

11. Indiscriminate import duty waivers

A few privileged members of the business community buy dollars at official rate while they are allowed to import all manners of goods into the country. In the last 5 years, import duties worth N16 trillion were waived for them.

12. Effort to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel sabotage by NNPC

On August 8, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) for N17 billion. The technology which was designed to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel and other petroleum products was not acquired while the N17 billion approved for it was diverted.

13. N10 trillion diverted by CEOs of Government enterprises

The Buhari government revealed on December 19, 2018 that government enterprises including the CBN owed about N10 trillion in unremitted operating surplus as at August 2018. The details were provided. The said sum of N10 trillion remains unpaid.

14. N6 trillion unpaid ground rents by buyers of Government properties

On March 29, 2023, the Senate noted that since 1992, over two million houses across the 36 states and the FCT had been built and allocated to beneficiaries by the federal government without evidence of payment of ground rent on the properties. Consequently, the Senate set up an Ad Hoc Committee to recover over N6 trillion unpaid ground rents from property owners in the country.

15. Stolen crude oil valued at $29.17 billion

A group of lawyers engaged by NIMASA confirmed that 60.2 million barrels of crude oil valued at $12.7 billion of crude oil was stolen and illegally exported to the United States of America between January 2011 and 2014. This has not been recovered. Also, the House of Representatives investigated and confirmed that undeclared crude oil worth $17 billion was exported to global destinations during the same period. The affected companies are known but government seems to lack the will to bring them to book and recover the sum of $29.7 billion being the value of the stolen crude.

16. Oil theft of N16.25 trillion

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that between 2009 and 2020 Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to oil theft. The security forces have not been able to stop the stealing and smuggling of crude oil from Nigeria.

However, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd (TSSNL), a private company discovered pipelines through which crude oil was being diverted from a 40,000 barrel per day Forcados pipeline to the high seas for export. The indicted oil companies including an IOC involved in this grand theft are yet to be prosecuted.

17. Deduction of collection costs by FIRS & NCS

The Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigeria Customs Service are allowed by their enabling laws to deduct percentages of the taxes and duties collected by them as collection costs. Thus, the FIRS between 2016 and 2020 made N533.39 billion deductions while Nigeria Customs Service withdrew N128.64 billion as cost of collection in 2022.

The laws which allow agencies of the Federal Government to deduct collection costs are contrary and inconsistent with section 162 of the Constitution which provides that all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation shall be paid into the Federation Account.

18. Diversion of $6.065 billion approved for turn-around maintenance of refineries

Between 1993 and 2016, successive regimes spent, through the NNPC, about $6.065 billon on the so-called turn around maintenance and rehabilitation of the four refineries at various times.

It is public knowledge that the turn-around maintenance of the refineries was not carried out. Therefore, the contractors should be invited by the EFCC and compelled to refund the said sum of $6.025 billion.

19. Investment in Dangote refinery and rehabilitation of 4 refineries

The Federal Government has invested $2.7 billion in Dangote Refinery while the NNPCL will supply the refinery with 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Furthermore, the Government has awarded the contracts for the rehabilitation of the two refineries in Port Harcourt for $1.5 billion, as well as Kaduna and Warri refineries for $1.4 billion.

We are compelled to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress to monitor the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrade of the 4 refineries.

20. Special salaries for top public officers, security votes, and pension for governors

Top public officers have illegally taken themselves out of the general salary structure. For instance, contrary to section 70 of the Constitution which provides that the salaries and allowances of legislators shall be fixed by the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission the members of the National Assembly are paid emoluments ranging from N13 million to N15 million per month.

In addition to their salaries the 36 State Governors are paid security votes running into hundreds of millions per month. The largesse has since been extended to all senior public officers, including heads of ministries, departments, and agencies of the federal and state governments, as well as local government chairmen. The security votes paid to senior public officers are about N241 billion per annum.

As if such subsidy is not enough, state governors have been placed on scandalous pension of billions of Naira. But due to public criticisms, the Lagos State Government has halved the pension for ex-governors while the Governments of Kwara, Imo, and Zamfara States have abolished the payment of the outrageous pension to former governors and deputies. We call on all other state governments to emulate the example of the aforementioned 3 state governments.

21. Diversion of dividend and feed gas of $33 billion by NNPCL

Nigeria LNG Limited is jointly owned by Nigeria and the OICs. The 49% shares of Nigeria in the joint venture were paid for from the Federation Account in 1989. On March 29, 2021, former President Buhari disclosed that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) had generated $114 billion in revenues, paid $9 billion in taxes, $18 billion as dividend and $15 billion in Feed Gas Purchase to the Federal Government. However, rather than pay the fund into the federation account as constitutionally directed, the $33.9 billion dividend and feed gas was diverted by the NNPCL.

22. *Diversion of trillions of Naira through fuel subsidy fund*

Notwithstanding the allocation of 445,000 barrels of crude oil to NNPC per day for domestic consumption, it has been confirmed that the figures for fuel importation in Nigeria between 1999 and 2023 are as follows:

1. 1999-2006 =N813 billion;

2. 2007-2009= N794 billion;

3. 2010-2014= N3.9 trillion;

4. 2015-2023= N11 trillion.

Last week, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari stunned the nation when he said that the federal government still owes the company N2.8 trillion in fuel subsidy payments. But the monumental fraud that has characterized the fuel subsidy scam has been confirmed by the Buhari regime.

Thus, on March 27, 2022, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva publicly lamented the controversies surrounding the amount of petrol that the nation consumes daily, said the subsidy regime encouraged criminal activities like smuggling, which in turn impact negatively on the nation’s oil resources. He said that, “I am told the figure sometimes rise to as high as 90 or over 100 million litres. I don’t know how that happens. At this rate, I have said if anyone is looking at a criminal enterprise, look no further than the fuel subsidy.” The criminal enterprise ought to be probed by the Bola Tinubu administration.

Conclusion

It is crystal clear from the foregoing that members of the ruling class are heavily subsidized by the peripheral capitalist system while the masses are subjected to excruciating economic pains. We are therefore compelled to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress as well as the progressive extraction of the civil society to mount pressure on the federal government to stop the dollarisation of the national economy, indiscriminate grant of duty waivers, theft of crude oil, gold, and other mineral resources and recover the nation’s looted wealth. In other words, these ‘subsidies’ should be recovered while the nation’s refineries are fixed so that the country can provide genuine subsidies that can make life livable in Nigeria.
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Noté bené
There is also, the recent NIGERIA AIR open looting.

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Dele Momodu Speaks on EFCC, Yahaya Bello’s Case, Others

Published

8 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Eric

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dele Momodu, has faulted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

He said he had expected the anti-graft agency’s boss, Ola Olukoyede, to have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.

Momodu, who spoke on his Instagram Live show, while responding to questions on the burning topic by viewers, also frowned at the issue of selective prosecution, saying “a situation where EFCC would have to be told who can be touched and who cannot be touched is unacceptable.”

He said, “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors. All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.

“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”

When asked if EFCC was lying about the former Governor, he said, “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence. When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.

“How do you expect me to believe everything they said when they were too much in a hurry to prosecute him that they did not take their time to check the file. Once you allow a lacuna in law, everything will fall flat. “That is it. I am not one of those people who will say because I don’t like APC and because I supported Dino Melaye in the last election in Kogi State. Dino is my guy. But, I will not because of that be blinded by hatred for Yahaya Bello and say yes, he should go and surrender himself to EFCC when there is an existing injunction.

“And he is not the only governor who went to court and if the court has granted him that, so be it. We all know that our judiciary is not so perfect but you know, even at that, law is law, it must be obeyed. If we disobey the rule of law, then, we will have to obey the rule of the jungle. So, I never said that they are lying, it is their own statement that shows that they didn’t do their due diligence.”

Momodu, a PDP presidential aspirant, advised President Bola Tinubu not to allow people mislead him into disregarding the rule of law, saying those people would not be there for him tomorrow.

“My advice to President Tinubu is, don’t listen to all these people who will run away when tomorrow comes. Just follow the rule of law. I am appealing, obey the rule of law…. A situation where the EFCC will have to be told who can be touched, who cannot be touched; It is unacceptable. It is unacceptable! And that is why a lot of people have given up. You can see that a lot of serious people are not even interested in whatever they are doing to Yahaya Bello. A lot of people are not interested because they have felt all the gra gra before, it is nothing new,” he stated.

The veteran journalist added that there were a lot of criminals in the system to prosecute but a situation where the agency was getting personal on just one person was uncalled for.

“Nigerians should stop wasting time. There are a lot of criminals in our system to prosecute but when the chairman who should take the people to court comes and say to one person, ‘if I don’t prosecute you to conclusion, I will resign’, that is getting personal. You don’t need all that,” he pointed out.

He disclosed that one of his favourite books while growing up was The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine and that it had influenced him so much that he would always defend the rights of everybody to fair hearing even if he had something against the person.

“I don’t hate anybody as a Christian. I don’t have anything against Yahaya Bello. If they like, they can choose to jail him for one million years, as long as you try him properly. This is my position, you can quote me on it,” he said.

Still on the issue of school fees, Momodu said, “I mean, I looked at the issue of school fees. Before I read, I was like how can somebody pay that kind of money? Then, when I read, it was something else I was seeing. They said he paid upfront just before he left government, and when I checked, that was not what happened. How can you try people before you will go and examine the fact?”

On if he had resigned from the PDP, he said, “If I resign, that means I am quiting. No, I am still a member of the PDP. I said it clearly after the election in 2022 during the PDP primary, they asked us, if you don’t get our ticket, are you going go jump ship? And, I said, I can’t, I won’t jump ship and I stand by that.”

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African Countries Working Against Air Peace, Allen Onyema Laments

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

Eric

Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has lamented that African countries are frustrating his airline with exorbitant airport charges to prevent it operating seamlessly in the region.

He laid the accusation at the 48th Annual General Meeting and exhibition of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in Lagos.

The airline chief, however, exonerated Ghana from the negative aero politics.

According to him, all other African countries where Air Peace operate, have continued to employ means of exorbitant airport charges to frustrate the private Nigerian flag carrier from operating into their market.

Onyema said while these African airlines operate flights into Nigeria without limitations, the reverse has been the case as their home countries write to Air Peace not to fly into their country.

He said whenever Air Peace challenged these negativity in court, the countries would reluctantly allow Air Peace to operate but afterwards use exorbitant airport charges to frustrate the airline.

He narrated: “It took us four years to get approval to fly into a West African country but their airline has been coming into Nigeria for many years. When we eventually started flying, they wanted to chase us away with exorbitant airport charges. They told us to pay $12,000 per landing. We cannot implement SAATM in a lopsided way and expect it to work.

“Some countries we fly into send us bills running into millions of euros. When we ask them how we incurred the bill, they won’t respond. We made payment and after making payment, they told us the account we paid into no longer exists and we need to make a fresh payment. I have never seen a country as welcoming as Nigeria but we are being stigmatised in other countries.”

He also disclosed that another African country asked Air Peace to pay 4 million euros as charges incurred, but when asked how they arrived at the charges, they got judgment to enforce the levy in a French court.

The Air Peace boss said the advantage Air Peace has over other airlines is that, it is flying people from other states in Nigeria to London via the Lagos airport, thereby saving passengers over N200,000 they would have paid on local destinations after arriving at Lagos airport.

“We studied to find out why Nigerian airlines failed on the London route, we know the issues and we addressed them. It is not totally the fault of Nigerian airlines. If I didn›t go to the media to expose what Gatwick and other airlines were doing to us, we would not have lasted on the Lagos-London route for two weeks,” he said.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, through his representative Hassan Tai Ejibunu, Director of Air Transport Management, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said the theme of this year’s AGM and exhibition, “Unlocking Africa’s Economic Potential: Travel and Tourism as Catalyst for Intra-Africa Business, Investment and Trade,” is apt.

Keyamo said the theme is in sync with the visionary thought of African leaders to integrate and facilitate trade and investment among the 55 countries of the African Union and eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in the continent, through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He said the five-point agenda, which are in tandem with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinbu, are to “Ensure strict compliance with safety regulations and continuous upward movement of Nigeria’s rating by ICAO, support for the growth and sustenance of local businesses whilst holding them to the highest international standard in the aviation industry, improve infrastructures in the aviation industry, develop human capacity within the industry and Optimise revenue generation for the federal government.”

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Sunil Taldar Named Airtel Africa CEO to Retire As Ogunsanya Retires

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2024

Eric

Airtel Africa Plc has named Sunil Taldar as the next Managing Director/CEO, disclosing the retirement of incumbent Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun “Segun” Ogunsanya, who is due to retire effective July 1, 2024.

Ogunsanya, who joined Airtel in 2012 and led the Nigeria Operations for nine years before becoming Group CEO in 2021, played a pivotal role in maintaining double-digit revenue growth and introducing innovative products across the African continent.

Building on his achievements as CEO, including the launch of the company’s first Sustainability Strategy, Ogunsanya will assume the role of the inaugural Chair of the Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation. The foundation, a separate legal entity independent of the Airtel Africa Group, will focus on digital inclusion, financial inclusion, access to education, and environmental protection.

Upon his retirement, Ogunsanya will provide advisory support to the Chairman, the Airtel Africa Board, and the CEO for a 12-month period. Simultaneously, Airtel Africa announced the appointment of Sunil Taldar as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer to succeed Ogunsanya. Taldar, who joined Airtel Africa in October 2023 as Director – Transformation, will begin the transition to the CEO role alongside Ogunsanya. Following a transition period, Taldar will be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and assume the role of CEO on July 1, 2024. At that time, Ogunsanya will step down from the Board and retire from the Company.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Segun Ogansanya for his commitment and significant contribution to Airtel Africa plc as Chief Executive and before that as Managing Director and CEO of Nigeria, our largest market in Africa.

“I am pleased Segun has agreed, following his retirement, to assume the new role as Chair of the Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation, where he will bring his visionary leadership to this new philanthropic initiative to advance development and prosperity across Africa. Segun will retire from the Board with our very best wishes and sincere appreciation for everything he has achieved.

“The Board is delighted to appoint Sunil Taldar as the Group’s next Chief Executive Officer. His industry experience, strategic vision, constant customer focus and proven record of delivery will enable him to deliver our strategic objectives and to lead the Group in the next stages of its development.
In respect of the transition period, Segun continues to lead the business very effectively as seen in our financial results. Given that Sunil Taldar has already joined the Group, we are confident that we will have an orderly leadership transition and handover of responsibilities.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Airtel Africa plc

It has been a privilege to spend over 12 years of my career at Airtel Africa and I am proud of what we have delivered for customers across Africa.

We continue to transform lives. Now is the right time for me to handover to a new leader who can build on Airtel Africa’s strengths and deliver on the significant opportunities ahead as I pursue my renewed interest in the empowerment of Africans through digital and financial inclusion in a different capacity beyond the boundaries of for-profit organizations. This has been my ambition after a successful career spanning over 35 years in Banking, FMCG and Telecommunications”.