brainpulse:


...GEJ sacked sanusi without investigating.

Newbiee:
Ok, Kachikwu seems to be working for IPOB. The guy just cooked-up figures to tarnish the image of NNPC in particular and the administration in general. I hope he would be sanctioned, he is the real insubbordinator. I think the Kachikwu guy is suffering from the hang over of the privilege done to him by Mr. President to allow him been the GMD as well as the minister of state for petroleum at the same time. After effect of Alpha & Omega thing syndrome affecting him.

skedman:
you have refuse to educate yourself .please read it all over again whether you can still bring out something tangible fron the write up rather than concluding so fast.

CeterisXVII:

Did Baru's comments cause you pain? Is that why you lashed out? You really do need to go back and read his submission all over again. He listed out each contract, and stated who gave the approvals, one after the other. He even sought clarification from the BPP. Now, please go cringe somewhere and try to think deeply, if you can. It appears you have not done much of that lately.

brainpulse:
I must confess, this is a well detailed and packaged sound response quoting facts and figures with events and present underlying conditions.

As it is always said, there is always the second and third story to every issue, and its not the first to break the silence that is justified.

I like the role the presidency played against pressure to act without giving the opportunity to the other party to respond, this shows maturity against when GEJ sacked sanusi without investigating.

So the next thing is for an independent body to look into these weighty allegations and give recommendations to be acted and implemented.

In addition.

---

The way NNPC is structured now from what I read, it will be difficult for one person like Diezani to take absolutely decision & control of major contract unlike before.

Some one is annoyed that he doesn't have absolute power and influence in taking control as he personally wanted, but the man should understand what the act says and stipulates. I believe the act is the best for the industry.

Eruditor:


Oh lord *face palm*

This is what is supposed to constitute the NTB based on Baru's write-up.

Table 2: Composition of Tenders Board (SGF Circular (iii) above)

Ministry

Chairman

Permanent Secretary

Members

Heads of Departments

Parastatals

Chairman

Chief Executive

Members

Heads of Departments

Except Baru was having a brainfart moment similar to you.

BPP clarified according to this same write-up that the chairman is the NNPC GMD and the members are the GEDs. The GGM procurement acts as the Secretary.

Based on the forgoing, PMB in whatever capacity cannot make approvals of the contracts because he does not belong to the NTB whether as president or Substantial minister.

So NNPC GMD and his GEDs will sit and approve contracts as they please except it exceeds a certain amount and in that case they can defer to the FEC for approval? Who do you suppose represents their interest at the FEC? President Buhari?

I know you are stu.pid and all but not that stu.pid.

Eruditor:
Right back at you for making a totally inane and bigoted post and expecting not to be put in your place.

I thought you were of the suggestion that I have not done much thinking lately? Well, not only have you not done any thinking at all -lately, I doubt you have ever done so in your godforsaken life.

*up yours*

agabusta:
BREAKING: NNPC Scandal: Group Managing Director, Baru, breaks silence

Following the publication of alleged lack of adherence to due process in the award of NNPC contracts, the President ordered the Group Managing Director (GMD) and Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to consider and respond expeditiously to the allegations.....

The substance of the allegations made by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in a letter to the President dated 30th of August 2017, is that a number of “major contracts were never reviewed or discussed with me (sic) the NNPC Board.”

It is important to note from the outset that the law and the rules do not require a review or discussion with the Minister of State or the NNPC Board on contractual matters. What is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the President in his executive capacity or as Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as the case may be. There are therefore situations where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tenders Board while, in other cases, based on the threshold, the award must be submitted for presidential approval. Likewise, in some instances it is FEC approval that is required.

It should be noted that for both the Crude Term Contract and the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreements, there are no specific values attached to each transaction to warrant the values of $10billion and $5billion respectively placed on them in the claim of Dr. Kachikwu. It is therefore inappropriate to attach arbitrary values to the shortlists with the aim of classifying the transactions as contracts above NNPC Tenders Board limit. They are merely the shortlisting of prospective off-takers of crude oil and suppliers of petroleum products under agreed terms. These transactions were not required to be presented as contracts to the Board of NNPC and, of course, the monetary value of any crude oil eventually lifted by any of the companies goes straight into the federation account and not to the company.

Furthermore, contrary to the assertion of Dr. Kachikwu that he was never involved in the 2017/2018 contracting process for the Crude Oil Term Contracts, Dr. Kachikwu was in fact expressly consulted by the GMD and his recommendations were taken into account in following through the laid down procedure. Thus, for him to turn around and claim that “…these major contracts were never reviewed or discussed with me…” is most unfortunate to say the least.

THE NNPC CONTRACTING PROCESS

The contracting process in NNPC is governed by the following:

i. Provisions of the NNPC Act
ii. The Public Procurement Act, 2007 (PPA)
iii. Procurement method and thresholds of application and the composition of Tenders Board as provided by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Circular reference no. SGF/OP/1/S.3/VIII/57, dated 11th March, 2009.
iv. NNPC Delegation of Authority Guide
v. Supply Chain Management Policy & Procedure documents
vi. NNPC Ethics Guide
Approving Authority for Contracts

The SGF Circular (iii above) on procurement threshold provided the following authority limits for NNPC transactions as well as the composition of the NNPC Tenders Board:

Table 1: Financial Authority Threshold (SGF Circular (iii) above)

Approving Authority/No Objection to Award

Special Works (NNPC)

BPP issues “No objection to award”/FEC approves

N2.70 billion (USD 20M) and above

NNPC Tenders Board

Up to N2.7 billion (USD20M)

Table 2: Composition of Tenders Board (SGF Circular (iii) above)

Ministry

Chairman

Permanent Secretary

Members

Heads of Departments

Parastatals

Chairman

Chief Executive

Members

Heads of Departments

NNPC had cause to clarify severally from Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as to the composition of NNPC Tenders Board and the role of NNPC Board appointed by Government. The following clarifications were made.

a. The BPP expressly clarified that NNPC Tenders Board (NTB) is NOT the same as NNPC Board. The governing board (NNPC Board) is responsible for approval of work programmes, corporate plans and budgets, while the NTB is responsible for approval of day-to-day procurement implementation.

b. BPP referred to the SGF circular for the composition of the NTB to compose of the Accounting Officer (GMD NNPC) as the Chairman, with Heads of Department (GEDs) as members with the Head of procurement (GGM SCM) serving as the Secretary of the NNPC Tenders Board.

The above clarifications of the provisions of the procurement process show that approvals reside within the NTB and where thresholds are exceeded, the NNPC refers to FEC for approval. Therefore, the NNPC Board has no role in contracts approval process as advised by BPP.

The above clarifications of the provisions of the procurement process show that approvals reside within the NTB and where thresholds are exceeded, the NNPC refers to FEC for approval. Therefore, the NNPC Board has no role in contracts approval process as advised by BPP.

As can be seen, all these clarifications were sought and obtained prior to August, 2015 and were implemented by Dr. Kachikwu as the GMD of NNPC. Dr. Kachikwu also constituted the first NNPC Tenders Board on 8th September, 2015 and continued to chair it until his exit in June, 2016.


NNPC, Abuja.

October 9, 2017.

http://www.nnpcgroup.com/PublicRelations/NNPCinthenews/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/860/Re-Allegations-of-Lack-of-Adherence-to-Due-Process-in-NNPC-Contract-Awards.aspx

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/245496-breaking-nnpc-scandal-group-managing-director-baru-breaks-silence.html

faceURfront:


That my friend is a lie.

GEJ asked Sanusi, NOI, Deziani and their teams to sit down together and get to the bottom of the allegation of missing the 49billion dollars raised by Sanusi. He was only sacked after he came up with a different figure after that meeting and it became obvious he wanted to play to the gallery for political gains.

We all saw how it panned out. Did any of the subsequent audits validate any of his claims? NO!

CeterisXVII:


There was nothing bigoted about my post. If you chose to read it that way, it means you have a problem. Can't help you with that. You still need to think deeply. You were the first to allege that I should cringe and think deeply in your first post to me. I merely asked you to follow your own advice. Kachikwu constituted the tenders board and chaired it as GMD until he left the position in 2016. Suddenly, it is now wrong for Baru to chair the same tenders board as GMD and award contracts just as Kachikwu did, using the tenders board when he was GMD NNPC? Very funny.

Hello Mynd44, your attention is still needed to sanction this poster called Eruditor for breaching rule 2 again. He used the phrase 'godforsaken life' in an attempt to bully, provoke and insult a Nairalander. Thanks.

EruditorII:
You can't knock a good man down.

Kachikwu did not constitute the NTB. He simply submitted the issue to the BPP for clarification which they did. Recall, he did that in his capacity as Minister of state and NNPC GMD. So yea, when he was chairing the NTB he was also doing so as a Minister - not just as the GMD.

It is not wrong for Baru to chair the NTB. It is however wrong for him to pretend he is following the letter of the law by sidelining the Minister and then going around to seek approval from the President. That is one.

The rest of your rejoinder is you merely regurgitating Baru's half measures at covering his gaffe.

1. If NTB approve contracts without the state minister then no rule allows them to seek presidential approval except eye service.

2. In the situation that the FEC approved of the contract - who tabled it before them?

3. Kachikwu's approval was sought after and he turned around to say he was not consulted? How can we reconcile that Einstein?

4. Yes, BPP claimed the NNPC board is different from the NNPC Tenders board (NTB). The issue is the NTB constitutes of the GMD and the GEDs, so they only call the shots with no oversight from anyone. Authorities unto themselves! Judge and Jury all in one - it is cringeworthy.

So they are not saying anything new. The NTB should have constituted the Minister, Perm sec etc as well as the GMD and GEDs. Since Dr. Ibe was occupying both Minister and GMD, it did not matter that the BPP claimed only the GMD should be part of the team at the time. And Baru knows that having been a GED in the past. Deziani's approval was sought after when she was the Minister and please don't try to discriminate between Substantial and State. I have just shown you that BPP did not mention either of the two.

CeterisXVII:


Oh, I love this. The facts are beginning to emerge. Wind don blow, fowl nyash don open. We are eagerly awaiting Kachikwu's response to Baru's new comments. Oya, make una start part 2!

Kachikwu said Baru was awarding contracts anyhow, and he didn't know anything about those contracts.

Baru has replied Kachikwu that most of the commercial transactions you call 'contracts' and you think needed to be routed through you, were actually not contracts. So they are actually none of your business. Secondly, approval for the ones that were contracts whose sum were above a certain level, could come (and even came, in some cases) from the FEC or directly from the Petroleum Minister/President. Thirdly, you Kachikwu were well aware of those large sum contracts even at FEC level, since you are a member of FEC, so how can you turn round to say you now know nothing about them?

Oya, let Kachikwu respond. Part 2 of this drama promises to be sweet!

CeterisXVII:


Has Kachikwu come up to say he did not constitute the Tenders board and he did not chair it as GMD NNPC??! The BPP referred to the SGF Circular and advised NNPC on those who should be members of the Tenders Board, and NNPC as headed by Kachikwu at that time followed their lead. Baru continued from where Kachikwu stopped. He did not reconstitute the Tenders board set up by Kachikwu. As there was nothing to suggest he did so. he continued to use the Tenders Board to implement approved contracts, just as Kachikwu had done. If the board should have included the perm sec etc., why did Kachikwu not include them when he was setting up the Tenders board? You are just trying to defend Kachikwu who has goofed. Period.

EruditorII:
You don't know if the Perm sec was not in those NTB meetings at the time. Also, Kachikwu was the acting minister so we would never know if the minister would have been part of that board. What that means is as long as Kachikwu held those 2 positions - the Minister (state) and GMD constituted that board.

Therefore, to sideline Kachikwu under the pretexts of following after what transpired before Baru's tenure is simply daft and mischievous on his part. Afterall, when Kachikwu was approving contracts as you put it we can conclude that vicariously the Minister (State) and GMD were present through him.

CeterisXVII:


Kachikwu was never both Minister and GMD. He was just GMD NNPC. Kachikwu later became Minister of State. Buhari has always been the Petroleum Minister. He never relinquished the post. Nothing in the NNPC Act recognises the role of Minister of State. For you to say he was both GMD and Minister, means that you cannot see anything wrong in him holding both offices, even though there is a likelihood that he could have abused the powers he had.

CeterisXVII:


Where is the proof that the Perm Sec and others were members of the Tenders Board at that time??! Where? And Kachikwu set up the Tenders board using the same composition that the BPP had advised. It was not wrong at that time, right? But it suddenly became wrong after Kachikwu stopped being GMD and Baru took over.

SaintMorris:
Uncle Baru, you thief or you no thief?....We no wan hear long long English abeg

brainpulse:
I must confess, this is a well detailed and packaged sound response quoting facts and figures with events and present underlying conditions.

As it is always said, there is always the second and third story to every issue, and its not the first to break the silence that is justified.

I like the role the presidency played against pressure to act without giving the opportunity to the other party to respond, this shows maturity against when GEJ sacked sanusi without investigating.

So the next thing is for an independent body to look into these weighty allegations and give recommendations to be acted and implemented.

In addition.

---

The way NNPC is structured now from what I read, it will be difficult for one person like Diezani to take absolutely decision & control of major contract unlike before.

Some one is annoyed that he doesn't have absolute power and influence in taking control as he personally wanted, but the man should understand what the act says and stipulates. I believe the act is the best for the industry.

EruditorII:
The proof is even in Baru's rejoinder. The board constituted of the Minister, Perm Sec, Chairman (listed twice), members etc. This aspect was taken to the BPP for clarification to which they said the NTB should pertain to only the GMD as chairman and his GEDs as members. Now I am telling you that even as this clarification made no sense, Kachikwu could still work with it because he was also the acting minister and NNPC GMD rolled up in one.

But the moment he was appointed State minister and head of the NNPC board it was wrong in the very tenets of common sense for Baru to sideline him in the runnings of the sector or corporation and pick and choose when to involve him. After all, that same NTB as constituted by "Kachikwu" and clarified by BPP did not include even PMB so Baru had no business (save mischief) in getting some approvals from him.

Furthermore, contrary to the assertion of Dr. Kachikwu that he was never involved in the 2017/2018 contracting process for the Crude Oil Term Contracts, Dr. Kachikwu was in fact expressly consulted by the GMD and his recommendations were taken into account in following through the laid down procedure. Thus, for him to turn around and claim that “…these major contracts were never reviewed or discussed with me…” is most unfortunate to say the least.

What is required is the processing and approval of contracts by the NNPC Tenders Board, the President in his executive capacity or as Minister of Petroleum, or the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as the case may be. There are therefore situations where all that is required is the approval of the NNPC Tenders Board while, in other cases, based on the threshold, the award must be submitted for presidential approval. Likewise, in some instances it is FEC approval that is required.

murtalaa:
With this detailed explanation from NNPC, it is safe to conclude that Kachikwu was only throwing fits and tantrums like a jealous child. He should know the limit of his power or quit to join his brother, Kanu. Perhaps he could be made GMD of radio biafra if Kanu fancies him.

Yusman316:

[s]What political gains? Was he contesting for any political post or office at the time? For ur info GEJ asked for a sham nnpc audit after so much pressure from Nigerians. Which claimed only $1b was not remitted to cental bank of Nigeria. When a new government came in place and found out the money not remtted was more than $1b. NNPC claimed the money was actually used for maintainance and other things[/s]

CeterisXVII:


Whether it took Baru 1 day, 1 week or 1 month to come up with a response is not the issue. The main issue is "did his response address the issues raised against him in Kachikwu's memo?" My submission is that it did, and those responses even made Kachikwu end up with egg on his face. Even the explanation Baru gave shows how each step was followed, as well as how the financing and approvals for the contracts were obtained. If Kachikwu had gone through the processes deployed in awarding each contract and found flaws in them, he would have had a better case. Kachikwu needs to manage his staff better, and drop his ego.

Afterall, the things Baru did as GMD NNPC, were the same things Kachikwu did when he was also GMD. The same way contracts were approved at GMD level, was the same way it was done when Kachikwu was still GMD NNPC. The same powers Kachikwu had as GMD NNPC when he was still there, are the same powers Baru has now chosen to exercise, in his new role as GMD. If you notice, most of the approvals came from Buhari in his capacity as substantive Petroleum Minister, President and Head of FEC. Kachikwu ironically was part of the same FEC that approved some of those contracts, so how can he now turn round to say he knows nothing about it?

After becoming Minister of State, Kachikwu felt some of his powers had been taken away, and so he drafted that memo. The truth is that the NNPC Act does not grant any substantial powers to the Minister-Of-State. And that is what now needs to be addressed. Please learn to be more polite, when engaging others. There was absolutely no need to use the word 'trash!'

murtalaa:
With this detailed explanation from NNPC, it is safe to conclude that Kachikwu was only throwing fits and tantrums like a jealous child. He should know the limit of his power or quit to join his brother, Kanu. Perhaps he could be made GMD of radio biafra if Kanu fancies him.

bigfish3k:

whether kachikwu has power or not, he has revealed a corruption avenue, how can just two people GMD and the minister be awarding such whoping amount without passing thru a board, and u think its normal, restructure this country jare