Nigerians have been ruminating over the Minister of State's letter and that has sent a very bad signal to the anti corruption war of this administration. The question now is what is this government doing about this serious issue? What we have seen is capable of making Nigerians look the other side in this issue of anti corruption war. I have thought deeply over it and decided to bring it up here. What do we do to NNPC after this letter?

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Ministry responds to leak of Kachikwu’s letter, Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu

The Ministry of Petroleum Resources has responded to the leak of the Minister of State, Ibe Kachikwu’s letter, to the public. In a press statement signed by Idang Alibi, the ministry bemoaned the leak of a ‘private’ communication to the public. The full statement is reproduced below.

PRESS STATEMENT PUBLICATION OF A CONFIDENTIAL OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE
The attention of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has been drawn to a publication on a memo emanating from the HMSPR to the President. Please note the following:
The communication under reference is a normal procedural correspondence by the Minister to the President relating to developments in parastatals under his supervision. It is most distressing to the ministry of petroleum resources that a confidential communication to the President on the performance of one of its parastatals can be made public. The focus of the communication was on improving efficiency and deepening transparency in the oil and gas sector for continued investor confidence. It is noteworthy that the President has been fully supportive of the efforts of the Ministry to entrench good governance and accountability in the oil and gas sector. The Ministry of Petroleum Resources remains focused on achieving measurable progress in the implementation of the ongoing oil sector reforms in line with the mandate of the President. Thank you. Signed: Idang Alibi, Director of Press, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, October 3, 2017.

AbujaOnline news medium, SaharaReporters had leaked the letter earlier today, implying that there is a rift between the minister, and the GMD of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Buhari had appointed Kachikwu as NNPC GMD in August 2015 but replaced him with Baru in July 2016.In the letter, Kachikwu accused Baru of “completely eroding” some of the reforms he introduced as head of the oil firm. Kachikwu alleged that Baru had been sidelining the NNPC board.“Like the previous reorganisations and repostings done since Mr Baru resumed as GMD, I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments. This is so despite being the minister of state petroleum and chairman, NNPC board,” the letter read.“The board of NNPC which you appointed and which has met every month since its inauguration, and which by the NNPC is meant to review these planned appointments and postings, was never briefed. Members of the board learnt of these appointments from the pages of social media and the press release of NNPC.“Indeed, in anticipation of vacancies that would arise from retiring senior executives of NNPC, I wrote the GMD a letter requesting that we both have prior review of the proposed appointments. Not only did he not give my letter the courtesy of a reply, he proceeded to announce the appointments without consultation on board concurrence.“Mr President, please note that there is a board service committee whose function is to review potential appointment and terminationof senior staff prior to implementation. This committee was also not consulted.“The open administration I introduced with your support in our year of pushing reforms, has been completelyeroded. NNPC staff are afraid of contacting me for the fear of being punished, sidelined in appointments and targeted.“The effect of the attitude of the GMD and the sidelining ofthe board is that there is a fear culture in NNPC.”Kachikwu appealed to Buhari to intervene and “save the NNPC and oil industry from collapse arising from above non-transparent practices and empower the board you inaugurated to do the needful”.“That you save the office of the minister of state from further humiliation and disrespect by compelling all parastatals to submit to oversight regulatory mandateand proper supervision whichI am supposed to manage on your behalf,” he wrote.“You kindly instruct the GMD to effectively leave the NNPC to run as a proper institution and report out along due process lines to the board and that your excellency instructs that all reviews be done with the minister of state prior to your decision.“That to set right examples, you approve that the recently announced reorganisation changes be suspended until the GMD , myself and the board have made relevant input to same. This will send a clear signal of process and transparency.“That your excellency encourages joint presentation meeting between head of parastatals and the minister of state to you as to encourage a cultureof working together and implant discipline in the hierarchy.”