₦airaland Forum

I was laughing with tears in my eyes. Cos it ain't funny.

This Yam, This Goat, This Country: PwC on NNPC – Part 1

“Friends and countrymen; I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye do whatsoever it is within thine powers to prevent a frolic between the yam and the goat. For, as surely as the rising and setting of the sun, such an enterprise yieldeth only corruption, nay a sad ending for the yam” – Goodluck The Jonathan, First of His Name

Finally, we get a chance to see what PwC, the auditors, saw when they looked into the black hole that is NNPC. The full report is here (200 pages). It is not pretty.

I am not an oil and gas expert and much of the industry and how it works confuses me. But the PwC report is written in English so let’s try to parse it.

Remember The King?

A quick recap of what started all of this – King Mohammed Sanusi II, in his former life as SLS, the Central Bank Governor, told the nation that, based on what he had calculated, NNPC sold $67bn worth of crude in the period from January 2012 to July 2013. He then said that as custodian of the nation’s purse, he had only received $47bn of this amount. In other words, up to $20bn of the money was not accounted for.

Contrary to popular perception, SLS never did say the money had been stolen and he certainly didn’t name any names in his 300 page report submitted to the National Assembly. His main issue at the time was that, as CBN Governor, his job was to manage the exchange rate and the nation’s reserves. If there was $20bn out there in the wild, then his job was being made a lot harder than it needed to be.

He identified 3 ways in which the country was losing money as follows

1. Strategic Partnership Agreements – In 2011, as part of the efforts to promote local content, Shell sold its shares in 5 oil fields where NNPC was the majority shareholder. Shell had been the operator of these oil wells but NNPC awarded the operator rights to its subsidiary NPDC i.e. it allowed Shell to sell its shares but not the rights to operate them as it previously did.

NPDC then signed an ‘agreement’ worth almost $7bn with Seven Energy (3 fields) and Atlantic Energy (2 fields) for them to operate the fields. These companies of course had no clue how to operate the oil fields – Atlantic was registered as a company the day before it signed the agreement – so they sub-contracted the work to other companies. Seven Energy’s contract entitled it to 10% of the profits from the 3 fields while Atlantic was entitled to 30% of profits in its 2 fields.

SLS complaint was that these 2 companies were pointless and were just collecting money – that should have accrued to Nigeria – for doing nothing. Why didn’t NPDC just sub-contract the work by itself? The 2 companies also did not pay any taxes or royalties whatsoever to Nigeria.

2. Kerosene Subsidies – This one is fairly straightforward to understand. SLS did an analysis of kerosene prices in all 36 states of the federation in his report and found that prices ranged from N170 to N270 per litre.

Importers bring in kerosene and sell it to government at N140/litre. The government then sells it to local retailers at N40/litre with the understanding that they sell it to the ‘common man’ at N50/litre i.e government subsidises it by N100/litre. The retailers take the kerosene and sell it for what they like as stated above.

There is no sweeter corruption than this one. According to SLS, Nigeria was spending $100m per month on this pointless exercise. Not a single Nigerian anywhere bought kerosene for the ‘official’ N50/litre.

3. Swaps – Even with all the money going into NNPC, like a true apa, it is always broke. Due to the semi-dead refineries we have, NNPC of course has to import refined products (petrol and kerosene) but it often doesn’t have the money to pay importers in cash. So what it does it tell importers to import the refined products, then calculates the value of that product in crude oil and pays the importers with crude oil. This is how human beings traded before money was invented – by barter.

The problem here is that SLS said he had no idea how the amount of crude to be swapped for refined products was calculated. All he was able to find was that at one point, NNPC was ‘swapping’ 200,000 barrels of crude per day. That is a lot of crude. Did Nigeria get that much value in refined products? Who knows?

Enter PwC

The first thing to note is that PwC was asked to investigate all money due to the federation from crude sales to see what had been remitted and what, if any, was outstanding. It did NOT investigate the swaps or the Strategic Partnership Agreements as those were not part of its remit.

So what did it find? That the total revenues for the period in question were $69bn and not $67bn as stated by SLS. It had also remitted $50.8bn and not $47bn as initially thought. So, there was still a gap of roughly $20bn to be explained as before.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 23.01.42

Somehow NNPC managed to overpay $740m to the federation account if we accept its own numbers. As we shall see; NNPC cannot count, it cannot buy, it cannot sell.

Based on this, we can conclude that ‘no money is missing’ and close the case. Afterall, the numbers have been made to add up one way or the other – the $20bn that we thought was missing has been accounted for wan kain, as the outgoing President is wont to say.

But who or what gives NNPC the right to withhold nearly 30% of the money it receives on behalf of Nigeria and then spend it as it wishes? Here we have a goat locked in a room alone with a yam and no one to supervise what’s going on.

PwC’s opinion is that this practice of withholding money and then spending as it sees fit is highly dubious and that the NNPC act needs a legal opinion to determine whether it has the right to do this. What stops NNPC (the goat) from withholding 50% of revenues (the yam) and then telling us later that it spent it on one thing or the other? Based on this, nothing.

Kerosene Subsidy

From the chart above, we can see that the biggest expense in the accounting of the ‘missing’ $20bn is the petrol and kerosene subsidy at $8.7bn. Of this amount, NNPC claimed to have spent $3.38bn on kerosene subsidy. Yet, whether or not subsidy should have been paid was doubtful in the first place. Here’s the gist of what happened

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In other words – anyhowness. Between President Yar’Adua who cancelled the subsidy but did not gazette it (perhaps because he was trying to avoid a public outcry) and President Jonathan who ‘unlooked’ Yar’Adua’s cancellation, NNPC stuck its fingers in its ears and continued paying the subsidy. A lot of magic happened as a result.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 23.52.59

First, PwC found $40m of kerosene subsidy payments were duplicated (see above). That is, subsidy was paid to the same marketer twice or more for the exact same kerosene. This was apparently a ‘mistake’. But even if we accept this, there’s more.

Screen Shot 2015-04-28 at 23.37.36

The table above shows how NNPC is supposed to calculate subsidy on kerosene. That N34.51 is what it costs to get it to Nigeria. In other words, NNPC is supposed to sell it to marketers at that price (N34.51) and the marketers then sell to consumers at N50 – the difference of N15.49 being used to cover all their costs and a profit margin.

Instead, NNPC sells the kerosene to marketers at N40.90 i.e. taking some of the profit margin for itself. Why it does this, is a mystery. Nevertheless, when NNPC was calculating subsidy to be deducted (remember the yam and the goat are together), it used the figure of N34.51 even though it sold it to marketers at N40.90. In other words, NNPC charged marketers for a cost and also charged Nigeria for the same cost. This overcharging of subsidy on kerosene came to a cool $204m in total.

Nobody Is Above Mistake

It’s not easy for NNPC. When you are counting so much money, you are bound to make one or two mistakes here and there. It is these ‘mistakes’ that yielded the $1.48bn PwC asked NNPC to pay back to the federation. Some of these errors are as simple as wrongly adding a column in excel. These addition errors came to $40m.

There was also the overclaim of subsidies on petrol and kerosene (as described above). As well as other monies that should have been paid to the federation and were not paid. The table below shows the breakdown of the $1.48bn.

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 00.11.55

One must ask – if PwC hadn’t gone in to audit the place, would NNPC have just let a $40m addition error go on like its nothing? The mind boggles.

Money Wey No Get Receipt

As part of the accounting for the difference of $20bn between what was received and what was paid to the federation, NNPC submitted some other costs it claimed it had incurred as part of its operations. In total, these costs came to just $2.8bn as shown below

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 00.20.25

As an auditor, when someone tells you they have spent this amount of money, what do you do? You guessed right, you ask for receipts.

A big chunk of the costs were for pipeline maintenance contracts. Anyway, NNPC could not provide any evidence for $305m of the money it claimed to have spent as the breakdown below shows

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 00.27.30

Perhaps it thought PwC won’t ask for evidence. Some of it is quite hilarious (one must laugh when one cannot cry). In January and March 2012, it claimed to have paid salaries totalling $14m. No evidence to back it up. In November 2012, it claimed to have paid another $6m in salaries. Again, no evidence to back it up. Who was it paid to? Mr Who.

Almost $60m went on ‘charter hire’. To charter what? When you find out, tell me (Actually I know what this ‘charter’ is – it is the payment for the Petroleum Minister’s jet i.e. NNPC was paying for the cost of purchasing the jet on her behalf. But please don’t quote me). For January 2013, it entered a cost of $31m. But PwC found that this was the same cost it had claimed in 2012. When asked for the evidence for the January 2013 payment, it presented the same evidence as the one for January 2012. It claims to have spent $2.6m on buying cars. No evidence. $48m ‘right of way’ costs. No evidence. And so on and so forth.

Also, as you can see from above, in return for all the selfless and glorious work NNPC is doing for the country, it paid itself a total of $1.5bn in salaries for the 18 months in question that PwC looked into.

NPDC – Awon Bad Guys

When some people commit murder in broad daylight. They don’t run away. They light a cigar and sit down beside the dead body waiting for police to arrive. When the police arrive and ask who killed the person, they confidently say it was them. People like these are known as bad guys and NPDC is one of such people.

NPDC refused to cooperate with PwC for the audit. It did not submit any information or provide any help.

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 00.45.40

PwC then had to obtain information from a variety of sources (including NPDC’s website) to try to ascertain how much exactly it should have paid to the federation.

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 00.49.00

NPDC was summoned to the Senate sometime last year and they gave a presentation of their operations. The $6.815bn figure above in the NPDC column is what they claimed as the amount of oil they lifted. PwC also tried to verify this with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who gave them the $6.886bn figure. Finally, PwC tried to calculate the figures themselves and ended up with the $5.6bn figure.

Because they are bad guys, NPDC calculated their own tax and decided that the amount they owed to FIRS in taxes was $1.14bn. Out of this amount, they claimed they had graciously paid $863m to FIRS but do not yet feel like paying the rest. However, it was discovered that the actual amount paid was $838m – the $26m difference being due to a ‘mistake’ in counting the same payment twice. Please don’t shout at them so they don’t get angry and refuse to pay the rest of the money.

All told, NPDC is holding on to $5.11bn that it has not remitted to NNPC (NNPC is the owner of NPDC so it should collect the money from NPDC and send to the federation account). This is PwC’s conservative estimate of what NPDC has withheld from Nigeria. Perhaps when the time comes for them to pay the money, in keeping with the goat and yam principle, they might tell us that they spent half of it on ‘costs’ and can only remit $2bn or something. We await that day.

Sorry For Your Loss

Other monies are missing. But what can we do? This is the tragedy of the goat and the yam. NNPC claims that crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism cost it $760m in the period in question. It is unfortunate. Sorry.

NNPC also holds strategic reserves of petroleum products for the country. It is not free to hold these things and so the holding costs amounted to $460m in the period in question. These costs are made up of demurrage costs ($207m) and charges by Nigerian Ports Authority ($252m). Of the demurrage costs, $64m could not be verified while the entire $252m claimed to have been paid to NPA could not be supported by a single document as backing evidence.

#Forwards

The rest of the points raised are not things I understand very well so I have skipped them. But I think the above captures the gist of what has gone on.

So what can we do about this goat of a corporation? The rot in the place must be from ceiling to floor and you really cannot jail everybody there. A lot of the missing money will also never be recovered. So as much as people must be decisively punished for what has happened, how do we move ‘forwards’ and ensure this doesn’t happen again?

2,300 words is enough for one blog post so watch out for Part 2.

FF

As Washington Post is pushing the pen on this matter I've been asking what exactly has been going on at Guantanamo Bay all these years.

hustler86:
Beauty attracts, so also beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,that means the beholder attracts..., babe U a beholder of beauty and that's what attracted me 2u, let me be the protector of ur beauty

Guy you got that interpretation totally wrong. Wow.

White paws. No no.

Following

Waiting then

If I may discuss further.
Security: It's a no brainer what the book haram issue has meant to the business climate. The firm I work with had a couple of opportunities in the outgoing year in the north east of Nigeria. We turned them down. How do you feel foreigners who have security alerts from their various countries and embassies will feel. I've seen expertriates riding with armed guards all over the place and I tell you non is happy about it. Some firms even pay special hazards allowances for staff deployed to Nigeria. This adds to the cost of doing business generally and it's not attractive. This is not to say that security is perfect even at the countries of origin of FDI but it should be minimal and seen as controllable and manageable. Can we recall the spate of kidnappings for ransom etc. I can see why the current zero tolerance for any uprising is quashed with albeit in overkill I must admit. Business and I dare FDI thrives in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
INSTITUTIONS: We must be quite familiar with some unwholesome acts going on at the ports. Under hand deals, blatant request for bribes from all quarters even for people to carry out their paid jobs. Scandals from the judiciary, customs, immigration police. All operating below part in terms of ethics. The civil service filled with tin gods that see your legitimate request on their table as am opportunity to shake you down not minding the effects of this behaviour on the long run. The culture of nothing moves unless someone's palm is greased has to stop. There has to be an integrity in the system to promote trust that if we bring our business to Nigeria things will be done properly in good time without any hassles. I'll add here that a lot of people did not understand what the South African govt was doing when they decided to broadcast live the high profile case involving the blade runner Oscar Pistorious murder trial to the whole world. They wanted to show the world that our judiciary can be trusted to fair and firm. That we are transparent and even prompt. On that back drop imagine the rigmarole and opaque system in Nigeria. The world is watching. The people that are in a position to know these things behave like children unfortunately.
INFRASTRUCTURE : have you wondered that the largest economy in Africa is operating on about 5000 watts of power. Even smaller SA is operating on four times that amount. It is laughable really. So generating your own power is a consideration to be made by an FDI aspirant. It cost loads to generate private power. Weak transport outlay is not beneficial to consideration too as the movement of people goods and services is a key factor in ensuring success.

Finally you may say but other foreign companies are still operating in Nigeria. Yes they are... The high population is so so attractive but you may also be aware that they are outsourcing some of the aspects of their businesses to Benin and Ghana for ease.

OP I want to believe this not a term paper but I'll share a bit.
Firms make foreign direct investment decisions based on certain factors. These could be firm specific factors ranging from revenue drive, following a competitor to a new market in another country, the strain of the liability of foreigness which includes distance language culture and country specific advantages, identification of a viable and vibrant market in terms of size and economy of the target demographics.
There are certain factors that make a country attractive to FDI. These include legal issues, investment laws that bother on allowed ownership structures, tax holidays if any, are it's laws similar in style from country of origin of the FDI etc. Security is another consideration. Infrastructure.... Power roads transport Internet ports banking etc. Then institutions...... Police judiciary arbitration panels customs immigration etc... Are they operating at best practice levels. Furthermore the foreign exchange regime.... Can I get my profit out without stress. Another consideration is polilitical... Is it a democracy? Is there a possibility that the government and governance is unstable and so will translate to unstable policies.
All the issues raised above are major considerations for FDI and no one wants to take their funds to invest in a country where the outlook for these factors are either vague or unhealthy. As I type this Nigeria does not look good. There's a competition out there for this FDI and countries that know the implications are doing all that they can to put these issues which form country specific advantages in the right position. Any one of these not put in place is a risk and nobody likes taking risks or at least let the risk be minimal. For Nigeria to attract FDI I've identified 3 areas that must be tackled.... Security, infrastructure and institutions.
I hope this helps for question number 1.

OP I want to believe this not a term paper but I'll share a bit.
Firms make foreign direct investment decisions based on certain factors. These could be firm specific factors and objectives ranging from revenue drive, following a competitor to a new market in another country, the strain of the liability of foreigness which includes distance culture language and country specific advantages, identification of a viable and vibrant market in terms of size and economy of the target demographics.
There are certain factors that make a country attractive to FDI. These include legal issues, investment laws that bother on allowed ownership structures, tax holidays if any, are it's laws similar in style from country of origin of the FDI etc. Security is another consideration. Infrastructure.... Power roads transport Internet ports banking etc. Then institutions...... Police judiciary arbitration panels customs immigration etc... Are they operating at best practice levels. Furthermore the foreign exchange regime.... Can I get my profit out without stress. Another consideration is polilitical... Is it a democracy? Is there a possibility that the government and governance is unstable and so will translate to unstable policies.
All the issues raised above are major considerations for FDI and no one wants to take their funds to invest in a country where the outlook for these factors are either vague or unhealthy. As I type this Nigeria does not look good. There's a competition out there for this FDI and countries that know the implications are doing all that they can to put these issues which form country specific advantages in the right position. Any one of these not put in place is a risk and nobody likes taking risks or at least let the risk be minimal. For Nigeria to attract FDI I've identified 3 areas that must be tackled.... Security, infrastructure and institutions.
I hope this helps for question number 1.

kateskitty:
Didn't find your illustration funny because it couldn't be more wrong. Smartphones will no longer get bigger than they already are but will even get smaller and evolve into what is now beginning to be known as WEARABLES.

You need to update yourself on the direction of the tech markets. The wearables are on their way out before they made a major impact. And your prediction that they will no longer be bigger might not hold water.

Say help us into why the target of 500k was set. For what business line and one or two ideas you hope to work on to raise the amount in 2016.

I will not usually comment on matters of the heart except I hear both sides of the story. However if your version as stated here is same from the other side. LEAVE NOW WITH YOUR DAUGHTER, GET A RESTRAINING ORDER ON HER OR YOU'RE DEAD MEAT.

barcaboi:
explain more why?....I have a straight back tho her pops was slant

barcaboi:
explain more why?....I have a straight back tho her pops was slant

Just a personal preference. Don't like the crouch gait the hind legs gives.

"Not forgetting my sweetheart trishap...I miss you baby. Merry xmas"
Proteegee.... I quoted you ooooo. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I do not condemn the slant backs but I won't get one. I'll only do the straightbacks. That's my personal opinion.

Seen.

Houseofglam7:
Just received my pup!
She's adorable.

Care to share pics?

Haba chuky234 she asked for reference and you're making a pitch of your own. You should have allowed a not so good reference report before making a pitch. From what I see from a few reliable folks on this section the entity she asked about seem to have a good report. You should have just let it slide then. I know there's competition and rivalry in business but there's also a place for ethics. By the way I don't know who she was trying to patronize neither am I saying you don't have good stuff.

Thanks for the wishes. I sincerely wish you same and much more.

Punch

Confess your sins to Buhari, Sagay tells Jonathan
By - December 22, 2015


Former President Goodluck Jonathan


Eniola Akinkuotu

The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has advised former President Goodluck Jonathan to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and confess all he knows about the $2bn arms scandal.

Sagay told our correspondent during an interview that if Jonathan could provide adequate information, he would be accorded the adequate respect by virtue of being a former Head of State.

A former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki; a former Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi; and several others have been charged for their roles in the arms scandal.



Dasuki had also claimed to be acting on “instructions from above.”

When asked if Jonathan could be arrested despite his soaring popularity in the international community for conceding defeat in the March 28 presidential election and congratulating Buhari, Sagay said the issue was a ‘sensitive’ one.

He, however, argued that conceding defeat to Buhari did not make Jonathan a hero. The senior advocate said one good action could not correct several evil actions.

He said, “To start with, the great reputation he (Jonathan) seems to have is the fact that he admitted defeat. There are thousands of actions that are negative actions so I don’t think that we should overplay it.

“But on the issue of the former President going to prison, I agree that it is a bit touchy politically but the case of Jonathan is particularly bad if you see the manner with which the country’s resources and government coffers have been turned into a bazaar parlour where everyone goes to collect his own share. Just like Warri boys would ask, ‘You don obtain your own?’

“Everyone was going to ‘obtain’ under Jonathan. It was just bizarre but I understand that dealing with a former Head of State is always a sensitive issue but I would say he should have a private chat with President Muhammadu Buhari and say all that he knows and if there is anything he has to release, then he should release it and be allowed to go quietly into retirement.”

Also reacting to the N120m collected by some members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria from Dasuki which is believed to be part of the diverted $2bn, Sagay said investigations would determine if the newspapers were culpable or not.

He said the Chairman of NPAN, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, who confessed to collecting over N500m from Dasuki, might not be charged if the process through which he collected the money was transparent.

Sagay said, “I think the issue of knowledge and motive are very important. In other words, if Nduka Obaigbena was informed that the Federal Government had decided to compensate him for the losses suffered by his company and this was conveyed in writing and the cheque was given to him from the NSA, it would not be out of place because the NSA, after all, is a security adviser and what happened to Obaigbena’s company was a security adversity so I can understand that but if it was an underground thing, without any formality, explanation or record, that is when it will arouse suspicion and make one to assume that it was an underhand deal done to obtain Federal Government money without any entitlement.”

The senior advocate said plea bargaining which was bastardised under the last administration would be more stringent under the Buhari government.

Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, was convicted of financial impropriety and sentenced to six months in jail while the Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic Bank, Cecilia Ibru, who was convicted of financial impropriety, was jailed for six months and made to forfeit assets worth N191bn.

However, both Balogun and Ibru spent their jail terms in hospital and never went to prison.

In his reaction, Sagay told our correspondent that under Buhari, people would be made to spend more time in jail rather than be given light sentences.

The senior advocate said there was no provision in the constitution for convicted people to spend their entire jail term in hospital.

He said the Administration of Criminal Justice Act coupled with the anti-corruption stance of the President would ensure that no one escaped justice.

He said, “It is something that we have to look into but I have a feeling that with the new government and the arrival of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which has plea bargaining positions that are tougher than the normal ones, I think we are going to see people spending longer periods in prison even with plea bargaining and it will be longer than six months.

..

Wow. Did you say four months old? It's still a puppy. In time it will become more territorial which is natural and may respond to strangers with a bark. But like mentioned earlier be careful what you wish for and ensure you get it grow up under proper tutelage.

It's hard... It's a tough one on this guy... But he has two options. Forgive her and make a life with her. Walk away and make a life with another with compatible status. Not been in his situation and I can't even touch his pain and hurt but he's gotta to move on. If I knew him personally I'd be a friend and help him he through this.

Great idea to bring in a kind of feedback loop onto the mix. Welldone to the team and the concept. The lad has got something for sure.

Call his account officer for a meeting with the loan repayment plan print out. If it's confirmed an error of double withdrawal was made and he has a history showing he paid his regular servicing of the loan.... He should write all the people at the bank... Head office, customer care, regional manager, head retail banking etc with proof that he had been abiding by the termed payment plans.

My involvement with Sambo Dasuki and the arms deal scandal – Okonjo-Iweala Opens up
December 10, 2015

Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala-

Former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says she cannot be held accountable for the misappropriation of the funds released for the procurement of arms for the nation’s armed forces.

Former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki is at the center of an investigation into the diversion of about $2billion meant for the purchase of arms during the last administration.

A few public figures including Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole had questioned her involvement in the arms scandal, owing to the fact that she was the Finance Minister.

Okonjo-Iweala, however, maintains that her only involvement in the arms deal was to send a memo to former President Goodluck Jonathan, requesting that he approves $322m requested by the former NSA for military operations.

In the memo dated January 20, 2015, Okonjo-Iweala said she ‘responded to a request by the former National Security Adviser, Col Ibrahim Dasuki (retired) for funds to prosecute the terror war against Boko Haram.’

“It will be recalled that throughout 2014, there were public complaints by the military hierarchy to President Goodluck Jonathan about the inadequacy of funds to fight the anti-terror war in the North East, resulting in Boko Haram making gains and even taking territories.”

“A lot of the criticism was directed at the Federal Ministry of Finance under Dr Okonjo-Iweala which was accused of not doing enough to find funds for the operations. In fact, the Ministry, on several occasions, had to call press conferences to provide details of budgetary spending on the military, to show, against the background of limited resources and other urgent national priorities, that it was doing its best on funding security.”

“It was about this time that some new Abacha funds of about $322m were returned with another $700m still expected to be returned. (This is not to be confused with the Abacha funds returned in 2005-2006 under the Obasanjo government whose use for developmental purposes was monitored by the World Bank as earlier explained by Dr Okonjo-Iweala).”

“Former President Jonathan set up a Committee comprising of the former Minister of Justice, former NSA and the former Minister of Finance to determine how best to use both the returned and expected funds for development.

In the statement released on Wednesday by Paul Nwabuikwu, her Media Adviser, the former Minister further said she gave 3 conditions that must be met by the office of the NSA before the funds could be utilised.

“The NSA made a case for using the returned funds for urgent security operations since, he noted, there cannot be any development without peace and security. Based on this, a decision was taken to deploy about $322m for the military operations, while the expected $700m would be applied for development programmes as originally conceived.”

“Following the discussions and based on the urgency of the NSA’s memo, Dr Okonjo-Iweala requested the President to approve the transfer of the requested amount to the NSA’s Office for the specified purposes.

“But, as captured in the memo, she insisted on three conditions: a. only a part, not the entire Abacha funds would be spent on the arms; the rest would be invested in developmental projects as originally conceived b. the money was to be treated as borrowed funds which would be paid back as soon as possible c. the NSA’s office was to account for the spending to the President who was the Commander in Chief, given the fact that the Minister of Finance is not part of the security architecture and does not participate in the Security Council.”

The attempt to link the former Minister’s name to any misuse of these funds for any purpose other than security as far as she understood it is totally false and cannot stand.

My eyes gleaned at something like 30% of the 6T proposed budget going on capital expenditure. This is a statement and it's quite ambitious. The size of the budget itself against dwindling oil prices means a couple things. Either the government plans to service the budget through much debt which I hope not or it will raise taxes and insist on compliance. On the other hand it's likely it will also set ambitious targets for the revenue generating agencies like the firs. A pointer to that is the person chosen to head that organization. Fillers are that there's going to be a stringent tax regime come 2016. There may also be a push to bring on the property tax laws which the lawmakers have been avoiding as they will be the most hit. Other indications are that the government feels the TSA will block leakage and make more funds available than before.
On foreign direct investment it must crush bh and improve on security. It has already signaled it's intentions on infrastructure with 30% allocation if what I saw is correct. Institutions are also being propped to be fair and firm by recent penalty regimes Ala mtn. The aforementioned are strong country specific advantages that can attract foreign direct investment.
However I do not know if the higher taxes may impact negatively on interest rates which when low spurs economic growth as industry will be more open to borrow and expand. The tricky alternative of devaluation may also be counter productive.
I hope more policy issues will be revealed in coming days to support the budget figures and how various indices mentioned above will play out on the proposed 2016 budget.

A long time ago I worked for 90 days with a chap, non Nigerian, that I met through a mutual friend. The period I spent with him was a mix bag and so I told him I was moving on. I deliberately chose to say only good things about him to mutual friends and ignored all the not too pretty incidents which I'm sure he and his wife expected me to spill. All the mutual friends always said he asked them,,, ,,,, you mean that's what he said happened,,,, I knew that line of action will shock him. So much so he tried to get me to do a job for him, a lucrative one I might add too, outside Nigeria but I turned it down. But all in all that decision to just ignore the bad aspects of our relationship and only say the good kept the door open and no bad blood.
So OP let it slide. One day you'd be glad you didn't lash out on him.

I have a question though. If as Dokpesi revealed he truly received the said amount and it is true as stated by Dasuki that GEJ approved every expenditure does that mean the former President is implicated in this wicked dirty scam.

If the market that the business seeks to enter is big enough give him a run for the money but with a twist. Look for the blind side of the business... A segment you could explore. Or further re-emerge with a blue ocean strategy to turn that same market on its head. IT IS POSSIBLE.

Looks like the shi.t just hit the fan