clemmonce: FOOLISHNESS IS LIKE PREGNANCY YOU CANT HIDE IT. GEJ IS FOOLISH

thegoodjoehunt:

That is nice to here. Now tell us things you feel he has done wrong without abusing anyone's character or previous posts. Just tell us things you feel GEJ got wrong or should have handled better. He can't be perfect. Thanks.

thegoodjoehunt: Pikin no fine, Pikin no fine, Mama like am.

Husband no get brain, Husband no get brain, Patience still love am.

dedeike:
I'm happy that you admitted that APAPA-OSHODI has started even if it's yesterday, tomorrow or next. I thought you said GEJ IS NOT DOING ANYTHING WHATSOEVER . Clueless this, clueless that. You also admitted that work has also started in BENIN-ORE--SAGAMU highway covering over 265 km. GOOD. I listed over 18 road projects for you that GEJ has done across the federation in one single year after his election. You did not disprove anyone. Yet you want GEJ TO FIX ALL THE ROADS IN NIGERIA in one year under the 2011 budget. You dodged the Ongoing works on Ibadan -Ilorin and chose to mention Lagos -Ibadan the concessioning of which the whole world knows is subject of litigation in court. See your bias. It's so easy to see thru your hatred. I have stated it before and I want to restate it, GEJ HAS DONE IN ONE YEAR, MORE ROADS THAN SOME OF HIS PREDECESSORS COULD DO THROUGHT THEIR TENURE.

Delafruita:
God had nothing to do with jonathan's election.nigerians(ignorant ones) willingly brought this calamity upon themselves and no amount of prayer can reverse it.i hope they have learnt their lesson

Zutchy: The only thing I feel GEJ should improve on as a leader is his supervision of his ministers and principal officers because there is this saying that,you might not touch oil with your own hand but the hem of your gown might touch oil and people will end up saying that you have been stained with oil,he should put or place stricter supervision on whomever he entrusts with any assignment or project in order to ensure the standard execution of that,because no matter the level of dedication and goodwill which I believe the man has towards the country if any of his surbodinates should mess up the blame will still fall on his table.and he should also insist on timely completion,he should always set deadlines for them.

sarutobie:
You mean the majority of nigerians who voted him were ignorant?..jonathan was the peoples choice..might not be the best..but it still was the peoples choice..let them deal with it..

Zutchy: The only thing I feel GEJ should improve on as a leader is his supervision of his ministers and principal officers because there is this saying that,you might not touch oil with your own hand but the hem of your gown might touch oil and people will end up saying that you have been stained with oil,he should put or place stricter supervision on whomever he entrusts with any assignment or project in order to ensure the standard execution of that,because no matter the level of dedication and goodwill which I believe the man has towards the country if any of his surbodinates should mess up the blame will still fall on his table.and he should also insist on timely completion,he should always set deadlines for them.

honeric01:

Una never suffer reach.. the best choice BASED on what? sentiments or achievement?

sarutobie:
Read carefully dude..I said he 'might' not be the best choice..whether he was chosen based on sentiments or not doesn't negate the fact that majority of nigerians voted him..

Elueme: That was a brave and dramatic@ beat, Gbawe, dedeike, Kobojunkie.... But what irritates most is obvious denial of the truth, calling the dog a bad name in order to hang it.... Leaders strive for goals , they achieve some or a lot but may never get it 100%. Well constructed criticisms are incredit for success in a true democratic institutions but when you have nothing good to see or say about your govt, it is either you are being guided by parochial sentiment or you are a misfit to your society.... Either way you are a lost soul... Some level of patriotism demands you keep hope in your country especially in the face of daunting challenges but some peeps, I won't reort to name callings, business's is on concocting lies against govt, looking at every slightest loophole to discredit govt , all sorts of name calling and most annoying, messengers of renowned failing politicians... If I may ask, who are the enemies of Nigeria? You or the people who believe just like an average American on defending their nation from external awks first while we tell ourselves the truth to our face... People who chose not to let their country be totally ridiculed by it can't be anyone else's politicians...who do not give a hoot if Nigeria is brought to ruin as long as one GEJ is in power? Common peeps! Nigeria is enmassed in so many challenges which can't be solved in one year,but this govt is working and the facts are there however we need more, right? ... Obama has not been able to meet the American dream despite the hope he raised, go and ask Oshiomohle, how governance is, he will tell you the more you look the less you see... It is easier to CRITICISE, pull down, rain abuses, be a hireling of destabilizers but before you CRITICISE, how well are you managing your small self, family and business talk of a controversial and comopolitan geographical enclave like Nigeria... Pray for your country and stop being used...

@all:

QED. I'm beginning to feel that GEJ has a hand in dis subsidy racket.

olyivy: Some of you guys are just insane. Are you guys now saying that if one supports the President, the person will now support EVERYTHING he does? We disagree with even family members let alone complete stranger.

If the said company is TRULY owned by AIG, then the government got it horribly wrong and anyone who expects me to say otherwise just because he wants GEJ fans to support everything he does is an axehole!

[img]http://premiumtimesng.com/thumbnail.php?file=banners/Aig_imoukhuede_469147865.jpg&size=article_large[/img]
Ice Energy says the Access Bank Managing Director is not probing own company but one in whose his brother has interest

Abuja-based Ice Energy Petroleum Trading Company Limited on Monday rose in stout defence of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, claiming the Access Bank Group Managing Director, is not superintending over the probe of his company with his assignment as Chairman, Special Committee on Subsidy Payment Verification and Reconciliation, but that of his younger relative.

PREMIUM TIMES had faulted President Goodluck Jonathan's appointment of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede as Chairman of the special committee after receiving findings of searches conducted at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to unmask the faces of owners of companies indicted in the House of Representatives subsidy payments probe report.

The CAC finding had indicated that Ice Energy, whose three-man Board of Directors has Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede as member, had links with the Access Bank boss, a development observers say raises conflict of interest issues about the role of the Chairman of the presidential committee in carrying out his mandate.

Junior relative of Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede on Ice's board

Incensed by the report, Ice Energy, in a release by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Chuks Iroche, said the company, alleged by the Farouk Lawan Committee to have pocketed $2,131,166.32 in hard currency (about N345.3million) in 2011 without supplying petroleum products, has no relationship whatsoever with the Access Bank boss, rather with his "junior relative", Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede.

"Aig-Imoukhuede on our Board is a younger relative of the CEO of Access Bank," Mr. Iroche said in his statement Monday.

But even this disclosure has got critics arguing that heading a committee that is considering an issue in which his close relative's company has a case to answer raises serious questions about the presidential committee chairman and his understanding of conflict of interest dilemma in assignments.

Available information at the CAC on the current ownership structure of Ice Energy shows that the younger Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede controls three million of the total nine million shares of the company as one of the three directors, and some sources believe he is still on the company's board as a proxy of the Access Bank's MD, a charge Ice Energy has denied.

Mr. Iroche, who also used the statement to absolve his company of any complicity in the alleged massive fraudulent activities by marketers in the fuel subsidy scam, said Ice Energy did not appear before the Farouk Lawan probe committee because no invitation was extended to it, contrary to claims by the committee that it flagrantly ignored same.

Similarly, he claimed that allegations by the former House Committee that his company collected huge foreign exchange for products not supplied as well as claims that Ice Energy benefitted from subsidy payments, were false, as the oil firm had written to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to cancel the importation allocation it received when it became obvious that it would not be able to meet the deadline set for product delivery.

Having been indicted by the Farouk-Lawan probe panel, Ice will have to explain this to the House of Representatives, anti-corruption agencies and presidential subsidy verification committte to clear its name.

Network of intrigues

The web of intrigues involving the two Aig-Imoukhuedes, who often answer to similar abreviations of their names as Aig Aig-Imoukhuede, is no less evident in another position held by the younger relative in another company, Marina Securities, whose links with Access Bank is so overtly undeniable.

Marina Securities is a Lagos-based stock-brokerage and portfolio management firm, with Paul Usoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as chairman of the Board and Aig Aig-Imoukhuede as director, Wealth Management.

Curiously, two other directors of the company, Idaere Ogan and Angela Jones, are all senior officials of Access Bank Plc.

While Mr. Ogan is a member of the Audit Committee of Access Bank, Ms Jones still works as General Manager in charge of Wealth Management in Access Bank, according to information available on the company's official website.

Despite the bold-face posturing of the Ice Energy management, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the GMD of Access Bank, would still preside in judgement over the activities of companies indicted in the fuel subsidy scam, including one belonging to his "younger relative", except the president thinks otherwise.

It is not clear if Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede availed both the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and President Jonathan the full disclosure of his knowledge of the involvement of his "younger relative" in the ownership of Ice Energy before he accepted the appointment as head of the presidential verification and reconciliation committee.

Public officials and bank chiefs in Nigeria often sit on boards of several companies using fronts or proxies, tapping their connections to facilitate businesses for the firms.

SARAKI’S MOTION AND SUBSIDY PROBE, Peoplesdaily, Friday January 27, 2012
by Abubakar Bukola Saraki on Saturday, 28 January 2012 at 03:55 ·
I have been regaled with mind-boggling revelations about the management of the petrol subsidy scheme in recent weeks. Some of this puzzling revelations range from the fact that about N1.5 trillion was spent outside of budget last year to how marketers and their collaborators have consistently gamed the system in excess of 20 million liters per day! Public searchlight is now intensely beamed on a sub-sector that has always been defined by opacity. All things being equal, this new sunshine regime should change things for the better both in the sector and the country at large.
While we wait and hope, it is important to remember how it all started. Many Nigerians, all along, had this sneaky feeling that the fuel subsidy scheme was redolent with untoward practices. But it was all hear-say and very few people could put their fingers on what was amiss. However, the country started gaining better clarity when in October, 2011, SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI successfully moved a motion on the floor of the Senate calling for an investigation into how the N240 billion budgeted for fuel subsidy for the whole of 2011 had ballooned to over N1.2 trillion under ten months. That motion rescued the issue from the domain of whispers and gossip and made it a credible item on the public agenda. It was a game-changer!
Apart from helping many to connect the dots and focusing public attention on a decidedly opaque arena, the motion by SENATOR SARAKI has triggered a series of actions not just in the Senate, but also in the House of Representatives and in the country at large. The probes that followed, even when they are still on-going, have put previously untouchable public officials and marketers on the hot-seat and uncovered serial abuse of office and process. Beyond that, the resultant revelations have also emboldened citizens and civic groups to demand for greater transparency, accountability and good governance in the oil sector and beyond.
One can reasonably guess that the Senator representing Kwara Central was not the first legislator to be aware that the country was spending far in excess of what was budgeted for fuel subsidy in 2011, or that it was wrong to spend money not appropriated by the parliament or that the fuel subsidy programme had been cornered for private gain by a powerful cartel within and outside of government. But while others looked the other way or lived in blissful ignorance, SENATOR BUKOLA SARAKI chose to ask questions.
Ordinarily, this should not be an exceptional act, as asking questions falls within the routine job-descriptions of the legislators. But given that others might have considered this subject too hot or too politically sensitive to handle and how well-resourced and well-connected the obvious targets of such inquiry are, SENATOR SARAKI’s motion is an exceptional act of vision, courage and leadership that should be celebrated, even when it is not unexpected that the target and their collaborators could fight back another day.
While moving the motion, SENATOR SARAKI cited the need to “strengthen institutional integrity, transparency and accountability” and prayed that the Senate should “set up a special committee to investigate the operation of the fuel subsidy scheme with a view to determine that it is still run within the parameters of the law and if not, find ways and means to make it much more transparent, accountable, efficient, sustainable and within the Appropriation Act.” The Senate obliged him, and the House of Representatives also followed suit.
Beyond ingenious legislative crafting, it seems SENATOR SARAKI’s motion was hinged on the need to interrogate the multiple issues implicated in the opaque management of the fuel subsidy scheme. One, is the constitutionality of treating fuel subsidy expenditure as a first-line charge before revenues are pooled into the Federation Account. Two, is the impact of extra-budgetary expenditure on budget implementation. Three, is the impact of spending an amount higher than the entire capital budget of the Federal Government on just one item. And four, is the legality of spending money without due appropriation by the National Assembly. At issue here then is not mere procedure or territory. Screaming beneath SENATOR SARAKI’s carefully-worded motion is a larger narrative: the need to promote probity, due process, rule of law, and sustainability in the management of public resources.
This historic motion has been described as a watershed moment for the 7th Senate, and a possible indicator that the red chamber might be on the cusp of change. The Senate leadership should be applauded too, for it could have killed the motion before it got on the order paper. It is quite remarkable that SENATOR SARAKI moved this well-researched and well-argued motion within three months of being a Senator. Some senators who have spent eight years or more in the red chamber do not have any remarkable intervention to their name. Yet, anyone familiar with SARAKI’s antecedents as a high-performing governor and influential chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum would know that he is not cut out to be a bench-warmer.
SARAKI’s trajectory in the upper house has demonstrated that previous experience as a legislator is not the sole determinant of impact in the National Assembly. Much more important factors are: the determination to make a difference, the courage of conviction, the ability to learn quickly, the quality of support staff, and the capacity to build a winning coalition. These are values that have served SARAKI well so far in the Senate. Other first-timers and old timers who are interested in making impact will do well to imbibe them to

sarutobie:
You mean the majority of nigerians who voted him were ignorant?..jonathan was the peoples choice..might not be the best..but it still was the peoples choice..let them deal with it..

thegoodjoehunt:

That is nice to here. Now tell us things you feel he has done wrong without abusing anyone's character or previous posts. Just tell us things you feel GEJ got wrong or should have handled better. He can't be perfect. Thanks.

eGuerrilla: Same difference!

Access Bank MD, Aig-Imoukhuede, not on our board but his younger relative is, says indicted oil firm

Source

thegoodjoehunt:

My hats off to Premiumtimes, at least we know some journalists are not sleeping.

Diezani Allison-Madueke, Former Oil minister, her jeweller and their sweetheart deal
26/06/2011 07:59:00

On April 7, 2010, a day after her appointment as minister for petroleum resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke flew to Beverley Hills in Los Angeles to revel in a lavish party and fashion show put together by Christopher Aire, a United States-based Nigerian celebrity jewellry designer and merchant, whom she met during her 15-month tenure as minister for solid minerals and steel development.
By the time the bejewelled Mrs Alison-Madueke returned home a few days later to assume duties as Nigeria's first female oil minister, she had achieved three clear objectives from the trip - she had unlimited fun, acquired some of Aire's exotic gold and gemstones, and handed Mr Aire an invitation to become one of Nigeria's biggest crude oil lifters.
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

At the time, the 47-year-old Mr Aire had nothing whatever to do with the oil business. His company, Solid 21 Incorporated, dealt strictly in jewellery and timepieces. Those close to him said Mr Aire was content with his jewellery business and had no plan to venture into Nigeria's murky oil waters. But all that changed after his meeting with Mrs Alison-Madueke that fateful April 7.
As the minister was flying home, Mr Aire also kick-started the process of registering brand new companies with which he planned to lift Nigerian crude. On July 9, 2010, the jeweller incorporated Siseno Oil Nigeria Limited, with him and one Patience Iluobe (believed to be his relative) as directors, to carry out the business of petroleum products sales and distribution.
Twelve days later (July 21, 2010), Mr Aire, through his agents, headed again to the Corporate Affairs Commission, where he incorporated another firm, Caligeria Oil Limited, also for the purpose of conducting petroleum products sales and distribution.
This time, one of his US-based companies, Osiri Holdings, Ms Iluobe, and one Otaigbe Onyekwere Agba, were named as directors. Mr Aire also proceeded to incorporate a US version of Caligeria with himself, his bodyguard, Joseph Agbi, and Jivani Davoodian, a Californian lawyer, as directors.
Favourite crude oil lifter
Mr Aire passed the papers of his newly minted companies, which have neither fixed addresses nor personnel, to the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Shortly afterwards - a month after the companies were born - Mrs Alison-Madueke discretionally approved the award of crude oil lifting contracts to the two firms, in violation of NNPC guidelines for lifting of Nigerian crude.
She also disregarded the fact that the "briefcase company" had no track record and lacked the ability to perform. According to a stringent guideline released by the NNPC in early 2010, companies which wish to lift Nigerian crude must prove that they are bona fide end users and that they are established and globally recognised large volume traders with evidence of their global network, their activities, and volumes of crude oil handled in the last three years.
Such companies must also provide evidence that they are registered Nigerian companies with operations in Nigeria's oil and gas industry, and must have a minimum annual turnover of at least $100 million and net worth of not less than $40 million.
Applicants are also required to show commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy by investing in any number of opportunities that abound either in the oil industry or gas sector. Besides, successful companies are expected to post a $1 million performance bond through a first class Nigerian bank in addition to the regular crude oil contract provisions.
In the same guideline, the corporation promises transparency, fairness and equity in the contract award processes. "The NNPC further wishes to emphasise that there is absolutely nothing like ‘Presidential', ‘Task Force', ‘Ministerial', ‘Diplomatic' or any other form of special or privileged allocation, which can be peddled by hawkers or anyone," the guideline states.
Mrs Alison-Maduekwe approved this guideline, which was posted on the NNPC's website on June 24, 2010, over a month after she became minister. But by allocating crude oil to Mr Aire's companies without regard for these rules, the then minister, insiders say, demonstrated a penchant for violating laws, including regulations she helped put in place.
Those who should know at the NNPC say Siseno and Caligeria did not meet any of these requirements. In fact, NEXT was able to determine that the companies do not have fixed addresses or personnel in Nigeria. Caligeria has Plot G19, House 34, Dan Alhaji Road, Barnawa, Kaduna, as its registered address. Siseno, on the other hand, listed Dollar Shop at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja as its operational address.
But visits to those addresses showed that these companies never operated out of those locations. Plot G19, House 34, in Kaduna is an unpainted residential bungalow, and residents and neighbours said no company known as Caligeria has ever operated in the building. "Just because their owner knows the minister and hosted her well at his glamorous event in California, the companies are today two of the biggest lifters of Nigeria's crude oil," said a source at the petroleum ministry.
We have learnt that, between them, Mr Aire's two companies lift 60,000 barrels of crude per day, the highest for any established industry player and twice as much as well-known companies such as Addax, Vermont, Oando, Unicorp and others who are allocated 30,000 barrels per day. The government, through the NNPC, subcontracts crude marketing by allocating crude lifting contracts of 30,000 barrel per day; but some traders like Glencore, Travigura, Vitol and Sahara get as much as 60,000 barrels per day.
Nobody got more than the minister's jeweller friend
As usual, Mrs Alison-Madueke declined to state her own side of the story to our reporters. She called off an interview appointment scheduled with our editors for June 13. She also did not return calls and text messages seeking her comments for this story.
Mr Aire did not respond to our enquiries either. When our reporter called his California office, a spokesperson who identified herself as Adriana, requested that questions should be e-mailed directly to her. She did not respond to the email as at the time this newspaper went to print. But the spokesperson of the NNPC, Levi Ajuonoma, rose in stout defence of his organisation, saying the organisation did nothing wrong. "The process for crude oil lifting license is so cumbersome. If you don't meet the requirements, you cannot be approved to lift crude," Mr Ajuonoma said. He confirmed that Caligeria, which he claimed had been around for a long time, got a one-year lifting contract that had since expired. He denied that Siseno was awarded contract to lift crude, saying "there is no such company on my list." But information at our disposal shows otherwise.
Caligeria's registration documents, obtained officially from the Corporate Affairs Commission, indicate that the company was incorporated less than a year ago and has a subsisting contract with the NNPC. High level sources also confirmed to us that Siseno, also less than a year old, is on the list of our country's crude oil traders. With the arbitrary allocations to his no-address companies, Mr Aire and his associates earn about $11 million a year in profit for doing virtually nothing. Crude lifters make about 50 cents a barrel per day, which cumulatively comes to about $30,000 per day in profit for the jeweller-turned-oil magnate.
Typically, what these ‘briefcase companies' do is team up with influential officials such as Mrs Alison-Madueke, lobby for contracts independently, and then sell their allocations to more established traders. Mr Aire's companies also benefitted from Mrs Alison-Madueke's discretional award of contracts for the lifting of products from the Oso condensate (an extra light Nigerian hydrocarbon) and the Escravos liquefied petroleum gas terminal. Our sources said Caligeria lifts 45,000 metric tonnes of condensate, while Siseno gets 30,000 metric tonnes of LPG from Escravos. Industry insiders said profit from this also runs into several millions of dollars.
Some industry operators described the obvious in calling Mr Aire's a "sweetheart deal". "We just can't understand why briefcase companies without any track record became Diezani's most favourite companies to lift crude oil," said one highly placed source in the petroleum ministry, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal. "This is the highest level of arbitrariness and corruption I have ever seen, and this woman must be made to answer questions," the source said.
Allison-Madueke's bazaar
Arbitrary awards of crude lifting contracts to obscure companies is indicative of the corruption in the oil industry, which allegedly skyrocketed during the tenure of Mrs Allison-Madueke to a degree last seen during the Sani Abacha administration. Insiders said that during her tenure, awards of contracts were characterised by bribery of top politicians, cronyism in allocation and indirect ownership in some of the lifters, and payment of huge bribes to high level facilitators within the petroleum ministry and the NNPC.
But this has not stopped Mrs Allison-Madueke, who has alienated the entire industry as well as her cabinet colleagues and senior aides to the president, from lobbying furiously for reappointment. Sources say Mrs Allison-Madueke, who is close to the president, is also opposed by Patience Jonathan, the president's wife.
Despite what appears to be overwhelming opposition, however, insiders still rate Mrs Allison-Madueke's chances high, as the president finalises his list of cabinet ministers for transmission to the Senate this week. Our investigation revealed that apart from Caligeria and Siseno, the former minister also trampled on due process in awarding crude lifting contracts to other companies such as Sullom Voe, Spog, Tempo and Tacomo. Insiders also accuse her of discretionary awards of Escravos liquefied petroleum gas contracts to Addax Energy, Avidor Oil and Gas Limited (believed to have connection to Vitol), Taleveras Business, Accoldis Limited (with connection to Spog), Elan Oil (believed to be another version of Traffigura) Tempo Energy Limited, and Blissfield Enterprises. Yet, the bazaar did not end there.
Mrs Alison-Madueke, our sources further revealed, proceeded to discretionally approve the awards of Oso condensate contracts to Algasco (also linked to Vitol), Optima Energy Services, Theydon Petro SA, Ocean Bed (with connection to Sahara Energy), Mangrove Energy, Havistar Petroleum (linked to Taleveras), Hyson, Ascon limited, Nipco Plc, Vitacan Services Limited, AMG Petro Energy, Energy Resources Management, Ultimate Gas Limited, Tempo Energy, Caligeria Oil Limited, Mez Technical Limited, Messrs Affiliate Global Exchange Limited, and Mezcor SA. Most of these companies have little or no investment in Nigeria, as required by the NNPC guideline for crude oil lifting.
A stench of corruption
The former powerful minister worked through a group of very small, even shadowy, companies that always seem to get the best contracts from the NNPC in the upstream and downstream sectors and on occasion in the services industry.
The tangled web of questionable deals includes last-minute assignment of production rights in five large oil blocks to Septa Energy and the obscure Atlantic Drilling Concept Limited without a public tender. The practices also include the secretive award of kerosene allocations, crude oil allocations, fuel oil allocations, LPG and condensate exports, automotive gas oil and naphtha. Oil traders, according to insiders, regularly pay substantial kickbacks into the offshore accounts of top oil sector executives. Insiders say the Isle of Man has been a favourite jurisdiction for such offshore accounts.
The funds are paid directly into the accounts from outside Nigeria and thus the funds never enter Nigeria and cannot be tracked internally. The funds are often then laundered through real estate purchases. A source familiar with the arrangement said London remains the dominant location where funds are laundered in this fashion.
It is said that since Farida Waziri became the chairperson of the EFCC, the Metropolitan Police had enjoyed zero local co-operation in pursuing such matters. In fact, the source added, when the Met briefs the EFCC on such cases with a view to getting its assistance, elements in the commission promptly informs the target - for a fee of course. Under Mrs Allison-Madueke, all sorts of gaps have been exploited. As at April this year, 600,000 metric tonnes of diesel had been imported, with importers shaken down at a rate of N10 per litre.
We have no evidence that these bribes directly involved the former minister. NEXT had also uncovered an elaborate bribery scam at the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), where oil marketers were compelled to pay bribes in US dollars in exchange for obtaining authorisation to import gasoline.
Our investigation at the time showed that oil marketers were instructed by PPPRA to call a mobile telephone number and pay a bribe of $8 per metric tonne of petroleum allocated to them, such that a firm with a 100,000 metric tonnes allocation would be required to pay a bribe of $800,000 in cash. We were also able to establish in subsequent investigations that Mrs Alison-Maduekwe appeared to have violated Nigeria's procurement law by quietly signing away operatorship rights in five lucrative oil blocks to two barely established companies.

Beaf:

Funny guy! Why do you lie so much, bro? What do you tell your kids you do for a living after "collecting" from El Rufai?
Search your heart very deeply, cos you are really lost and losing it.

Anyways, on a lighter note. Which level of winsh you be? You be pilot abi you be astronaut? Abi na you de use di TV wen de inside pot?
Winsh na winsh!
All hail Osonga Airways!

Delafruita: how does a company registered in 2010(after jonathan became president) suddenly becomes a recipient of a contract to import crude within just a few months?that means the company was registered with the fore-knowledge that an allocation was waiting for it.that eplains how marketers inreased under retardeen to 128 within just a few weeks.and some "laptops" are here defending jonathan.whether its senior Aig or junior Aig,the man's interest was conflicted from the beginning and a responsible president will immediately relieve him of his duties on that committee

At the time, the 47-year-old Mr Aire had nothing whatever to do with the oil business. [b]His company, Solid 21 Incorporated, dealt strictly in jewellery and timepieces. Those close to him said Mr Aire was content with his jewellery business and had no plan to venture into Nigeria's murky oil waters. But all that changed after his meeting with Mrs Alison-Madueke that fateful April 7.

As the minister was flying home, Mr Aire also kick-started the process of registering brand new companies with which he planned to lift Nigerian crude. On July 9, 2010, the jeweller incorporated Siseno Oil Nigeria Limited, with him and one Patience Iluobe (believed to be his relative) as directors, to carry out the business of petroleum products sales and distribution.

Twelve days later (July 21, 2010), Mr Aire, through his agents, headed again to the Corporate Affairs Commission, where he incorporated another firm, Caligeria Oil Limited, also for the purpose of conducting petroleum products sales and distribution.

This time, one of his US-based companies, Osiri Holdings, Ms Iluobe, and one Otaigbe Onyekwere Agba, were named as directors. Mr Aire also proceeded to incorporate a US version of Caligeria with himself, his bodyguard, Joseph Agbi, and Jivani Davoodian, a Californian lawyer, as directors.
Favourite crude oil lifter

Mr Aire passed the papers of his newly minted companies, which have neither fixed addresses nor personnel, to the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Shortly afterwards - a month after the companies were born - Mrs Alison-Madueke discretionally approved the award of crude oil lifting contracts to the two firms, in violation of NNPC guidelines for lifting of Nigerian crude.

She also disregarded the fact that the "briefcase company" had no track record and lacked the ability to perform. According to a stringent guideline released by the NNPC in early 2010, companies which wish to lift Nigerian crude must prove that they are bona fide end users and that they are established and globally recognised large volume traders with evidence of their global network, their activities, and volumes of crude oil handled in the last three years.

Such companies must also provide evidence that they are registered Nigerian companies with operations in Nigeria's oil and gas industry, and must have a minimum annual turnover of at least $100 million and net worth of not less than $40 million.[/b]

Applicants are also required to show commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy by investing in any number of opportunities that abound either in the oil industry or gas sector. Besides, successful companies are expected to post a $1 million performance bond through a first class Nigerian bank in addition to the regular crude oil contract provisions.

In the same guideline, the corporation promises transparency, fairness and equity in the contract award processes. "The NNPC further wishes to emphasise that there is absolutely nothing like ‘Presidential', ‘Task Force', ‘Ministerial', ‘Diplomatic' or any other form of special or privileged allocation, which can be peddled by hawkers or anyone," the guideline states.

[size=14pt][b]Mrs Alison-Maduekwe approved this guideline, which was posted on the NNPC's website on June 24, 2010, over a month after she became minister. But by allocating crude oil to Mr Aire's companies without regard for these rules, the then minister, insiders say, demonstrated a penchant for violating laws, including regulations she helped put in place.

Those who should know at the NNPC say Siseno and Caligeria did not meet any of these requirements. In fact, NEXT was able to determine that the companies do not have fixed addresses or personnel in Nigeria. Caligeria has Plot G19, House 34, Dan Alhaji Road, Barnawa, Kaduna, as its registered address. Siseno, on the other hand, listed Dollar Shop at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja as its operational address.

But visits to those addresses showed that these companies never operated out of those locations. Plot G19, House 34, in Kaduna is an unpainted residential bungalow, and residents and neighbours said no company known as Caligeria has ever operated in the building. "Just because their owner knows the minister and hosted her well at his glamorous event in California, the companies are today two of the biggest lifters of Nigeria's crude oil," said a source at the petroleum ministry.[/b][/size]

We have learnt that, between them, Mr Aire's two companies lift 60,000 barrels of crude per day, the highest for any established industry player and twice as much as well-known companies such as Addax, Vermont, Oando, Unicorp and others who are allocated 30,000 barrels per day. The government, through the NNPC, subcontracts crude marketing by allocating crude lifting contracts of 30,000 barrel per day; but some traders like Glencore, Travigura, Vitol and Sahara get as much as 60,000 barrels per day.

Nobody got more than the minister's jeweller friend
As usual, Mrs Alison-Madueke declined to state her own side of the story to our reporters. She called off an interview appointment scheduled with our editors for June 13. She also did not return calls and text messages seeking her comments for this story.

Mr Aire did not respond to our enquiries either. When our reporter called his California office, a spokesperson who identified herself as Adriana, requested that questions should be e-mailed directly to her. She did not respond to the email as at the time this newspaper went to print. But the spokesperson of the NNPC, Levi Ajuonoma, rose in stout defence of his organisation, saying the organisation did nothing wrong. "The process for crude oil lifting license is so cumbersome. If you don't meet the requirements, you cannot be approved to lift crude," Mr Ajuonoma said. He confirmed that Caligeria, which he claimed had been around for a long time, got a one-year lifting contract that had since expired. He denied that Siseno was awarded contract to lift crude, saying "there is no such company on my list." But information at our disposal shows otherwise.
Caligeria's registration documents, obtained officially from the Corporate Affairs Commission, indicate that the company was incorporated less than a year ago and has a subsisting contract with the NNPC. High level sources also confirmed to us that Siseno, also less than a year old, is on the list of our country's crude oil traders. With the arbitrary allocations to his no-address companies, Mr Aire and his associates earn about $11 million a year in profit for doing virtually nothing. Crude lifters make about 50 cents a barrel per day, which cumulatively comes to about $30,000 per day in profit for the jeweller-turned-oil magnate.
Typically, what these ‘briefcase companies' do is team up with influential officials such as Mrs Alison-Madueke, lobby for contracts independently, and then sell their allocations to more established traders. Mr Aire's companies also benefitted from Mrs Alison-Madueke's discretional award of contracts for the lifting of products from the Oso condensate (an extra light Nigerian hydrocarbon) and the Escravos liquefied petroleum gas terminal. Our sources said Caligeria lifts 45,000 metric tonnes of condensate, while Siseno gets 30,000 metric tonnes of LPG from Escravos. Industry insiders said profit from this also runs into several millions of dollars.

[size=14pt]Some industry operators described the obvious in calling Mr Aire's a "sweetheart deal". "We just can't understand why briefcase companies without any track record became Diezani's most favourite companies to lift crude oil," said one highly placed source in the petroleum ministry, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal. "This is the highest level of arbitrariness and corruption I have ever seen, and this woman must be made to answer questions," the source said.[/size]

dayounce:
My friend shatAp there,have u Passed through that Ore road that is bn repaired? After barely 4months of repairs the so-called ROAD is a split replica of its old sef. IMO the work done there was as clueless as the president and his contractors. For once Nigerians should stop bn irritatingly sentimental and say the truth haba! This GEJ guy is a misfit at the helm of Nigeria's affairs. Only dogs and vultures have contrary views.