Jonathan, Alison-Madueke,
Okonjo-Iweala Guilty Of Diverting N8
Trillion Oil Funds

President Goodluck Jonathan and two of
his top ministers may be attempting a
cover-up on what clearly competes as
Nigeria's biggest fraud ever, involving the
illegal diversion, or theft, of over N8
trillion crude oil sales proceeds.
In a memo to the president on September 25,
2013, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi detailed how government-owned oil
firm, the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, had systematically
diverted the huge sum, being sales proceeds
between January 2012 and July 2013.
According to CBN governor, for all crude oil
sales within the period, the NNPC paid only 24
percent proceeds into the federation account,
and diverted or stole the remaining 76
percent-totalling N8 trillion.
As the CBN calculated, the NNPC sold at least
594 million barrels of oil within the period,
and should have paid N10.3 trillion (USD65.3
billion) into the federation account. But the
corporation paid only N2.5 trillion (USD15.5
billion), Mr. Sanusi said, citing documentation
from pre-shipment inspectors.
The whereabouts of the huge balance is
unknown.
Just to explain it in simpler figures: for each
barrel of oil sold, say at an average of
USD100, the NNPC illegally cornered $74 into
an unknown account and gave Nigeria only
$26.
Mr. Sanusi said he was "constrained" to hint
the president after observing the huge
shortfalls for years. What is more, he accused
the NNPC of breaching 2 federal laws and
urged thorough investigation of the case.
Two months on, the president has refused to
act on the damning memo delivered to him
personally by the CBN governor. In fact, after
receiving the letter, the president, presidency
sources say, questioned Mr. Sanusi on why
such letter should be prepared in the first
place and sent to him.
The journalists of Premium Times also claim
that finance minister and former World Bank
chief, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, were also aware of
the CBN's information and has done nothing
about it.
President challenged on corruption
Details of the president's failure to act on
such a massive scale of misappropriation came
amid an increasing criticism of Mr. Jonathan's
response to corruption, as several senior
officials of his government, accused of stealing
or wasting public funds, have been spared of
indictment and prosecution.
One of the critics is Aminu Tambuwal, who
accused Jonathan of consistently displaying a
"body language" that encourages corruption.
Between 2011 and 2013, the House of
Representatives has investigated the NNPC
multiple times, and has in many cases found
officials of the corporation wanting. But no
one has been sanctioned by government.
In 2012, top management of the NNPC and
the petroleum minister, Mrs. Madueke, who
directly supervises the NNPC, were
recommended for prosecution by the House in
a shocking fuel subsidy probe. They accused
officials have remained at their posts.
The CBN's allegation is the most scathing yet
for a corporation notorious for secrecy and
corruption.
The diverted or stolen amount-N8 trillion
between January 2012 and July 2013- is the
nearly the equivalent of the total federal
budgets for two years.
More losses and the ECA
Even so, when compared with prevailing data
from different government agencies, the figure
admitted by the CBN is still lesser than what
Nigeria should earn from oil sales.
While the bank said its computation, based on
pre-shipment details, showed that Nigeria sold
N10.3 trillion worth of oil in 19 months,
Premium Times' analysis shows the
government should rather realize N10.6
trillion in the first 10 months of 2013-Janaury
to October-alone.
PREMIUM TIMES's estimates is based on the
government's data of daily production average
of 2.11 million barrels of crude, sold at an
average price of $105.84 per barrel.
If multiplied and converted to naira, the
government should have realized N10. 6
trillion in 10 months alone.
But in that period, total oil receipts data
provided by the Office of the Accountant
General of the Federation, claimed between
January and October, the government made
N5.8 trillion.
The journalists claim to have revealed that the
government has not only lied or misled
Nigerians about its total receipts from oil
sales, but is also deceitful about its earnings in
the contentious Excess Crude Account.
The ECA holds the difference between the real
market price for oil and the government's
projection in the national budget yearly.
For 2013, the government approved rate is
$79 per barrel (called benchmark for oil
price), meaning any raise in price at the
international marker, will go into the ECA.
For most of the year, oil sold as much as $112
and $114 per barrel. At a conservative rate of
$105 per barrel, the government should have
realized $26 as difference per barrel for the
Excess Crude Account.
Calculated at 2.11 million barrels per day, that
should amount to $17.3 billion (about
N2.695trillion) earned as excess crude
revenue from crude oil exports as of October
2013.
But the government claims it generated only
N986.6 billion in the Excess Crude Account.
No explanation
None of the government officials, when
contacted, could explain the huge gaps for the
2013 figures.
A spokesperson for the Central Bank of
Nigeria, responding to Premium Times findings
(not Mr. Sanusi's letter), said as the
government's banker, it could not provide the
requested information, as it was unlawful for
a banker to divulge details about its customer
to a third party.
Controversy over Excess Crude Account
Premium Times own evaluation of government
oil earnings, which started before the
appearance of Sanusi's letter, was prompted
by the lingering controversy over the ECA
between the finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-
Iweala and the Rivers state governor, Chibuike
Amaechi.
Mr. Amaechi had accused the government of
depleting the account, usually shared between
the federal, states and local governments.
The governor said $5 billion had gone missing
from the account under Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala's
watch.
Defending the administration, Mrs. Okonjo-
Iweala accused the governor of "playing
politics" on the matter, and said the
outstanding $5 billion had been shared to
states as monthly allocation and local
governments, with Rivers State being one of
the major beneficiaries.
The frustration of CBN governor
But in his letter, Mr. Sanusi said he had long
been frustrated by the NNPC's secrecy with oil
sales, and that he raised concerns twice to the
president as far back as 2010 about his
observation that a huge chunk of sales
proceeds were not remitted to government
treasury.
He said the shortfall in revenue as a result of
oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta was
insignificant compared to the scale of money
unaccounted for by the NNPC.
"Your excellency, you will recall that as far
back as late 2010, I had verbally expressed
deep concern about what appeared to be huge
shortfalls in remittances to the federation
account in spite of the strong recovery in oil
prices," the CBN governor wrote, indicating
the losses extending years back far surpasses
the N8 trillion of between 2012 and 2013.
There is no evidence the president acted on
those concerns.
According to him, by 2012, the situation had
gone worse that the government made more
money from tax paid by oil companies than
from actual sales of crude.
The CBN governor urged a thorough audit of
all domiciliary accounts held by the NNPC
outside of the CBN, and a probe of companies
involved in oil lifting and oil swap.
The Special Adviser to the President on Public
Communications, Reuben Abati, was not
available for comments.

NAIJ.COM

These guys are untouchable according to the current administration.