₦airaland Forum

Despite its relative autonomy in those early years, NNPC was hopelessly inept. In the wake of allegations of massive fraud, including an improper withdrawal of more than $4b from the corporation’s accounts in the late 1970s, the newly elected President Shehu Shagari (1979-83) in March 1980 instituted a tribunal to probe allegations.

NNPC’s oversight and regulatory role over the industry was virtually non-existent, due to a combination of low capacity, sheer inaction, and simply a proclivity of the corporation to break the law.

Agreements with IOCs lay around for years without ratification, and the IOCs often acted as if the corporation never existed. [size=18pt]NNPC’s accounting system was an unmitigated shambles; the corporation had never prepared and submitted audited accounts. [/size]

The industry under NNPC up to 1980 was so dismal that the tribunal— even with its full judicial powers to subpoena witnesses and information —could not reconcile crude oil production and sales figures from the various arms of government. The panel recommended the pruning of the power of NNPC and the streamlining of its operation for increased efficiency.

The limitation of the panel is underlined by the tribunal’s failure to summon Generals Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, who as national ruler, and oil minister NNPC chairman respectively “supervised the NNPC and controlled oil sales during the period in question.

http://bakerinstitute.org/media/files/page/9b067dc6/noc_nnpc_ugo.pdf

okiezman:
Gej till 2019

Buhari is a satan

Tinubu is an owl

Osibanjo is a thief like tinubu that why they mingle together. If he's a pastor then light and darkness has nothing in comon cos tinubu and buhari is darkness themselves

PassingShot:
Brainwashed nincompoop! We're talking of how your wealth is being stolen and you come here to spew rubbish? Did you get a share of the 20 billion dollars? A waste!

PassingShot:
Brainwashed nincompoop! We're talking of how your wealth is being stolen and you come here to spew rubbish? Did you get a share of the 20 billion dollars? A waste!

[size=18pt]Sanusi lied about $49.8bn missing money – Senate committee[/size]

The Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday described as untrue allegations by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, that $49.8bn was missing from the Federation Account.

The committee, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, which submitted its report also said the total crude oil lifting from January 2012 to July 2013 was $67bn and not $65bn as claimed by Sanusi.

Sanusi had written President Goodluck Jonathan alleging that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had failed to remit $49.8bn, being part of the income it generated from the sale of crude oil to the Federation Account.

But the committee stated that all the agencies, which made presentations to it, agreed after reconciliation that $47bn out of the $67bn had been credited to the Federation Account, leaving only $20bn yet to be accounted for.

It added that the $5.254bn spent on subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit by the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, which was part of the $20bn, was covered by the Appropriation Acts of 2012 and 2013.

It, however, said that $3.512bn for kerosene subsidy certified by PPPRA for the period January 2012 to July 2013 was not appropriated for by the National Assembly.

The committee, therefore, asked the management of the NNPC to refund $262m to the Federation Account, being the expenses it could not satisfactorily defend during the just concluded probe of the alleged missing $49.8bn.

It also asked the corporation to remit the balance of $218m out of the $2.4bn third party financing, out of which the share of the Federation Account was $1.58bn.

It also recommended the complete stoppage of the subsidy regime in the country.

The $262m, which the NNPC was asked to refund, was in respect of holding strategic stock reserve, pipeline maintenance and management cost, and capital expenditure.

The committee stated in the report, “There is the need for the subsidy regime to be totally discontinued with. All stakeholders, however, should be consulted and carried along as much as possible before abolishing the subsidy.”

It further noted that royalties and taxes amounting to $447.8m, being outstanding from the Federation Account share from the $6.815bn listings by the NNPC on behalf of the NPDC, remained unremitted

It also noted that gross lifting under the third party financing arrangement was $2.4bn, out of which the share for Federation Account was $1.588bn

“The Attorney-General of the Federation confirmed and gave documentary evidence showing the sum of $1,370,172,650.36 was remitted to the Federation Account,” the report stated.

The committee, therefore, recommended that the NNPC should remit the balance of $218,069,354.32 to the Federation Account

“The NNPC should refund and remit to the Federation Account the sum of $262m, being expenses it could not satisfactorily defend of holding strategic stock reserve; pipeline maintenance and management cost and capital expenditure,” it stated.

It said that further legislative action by the Senate should be taken after the receipt of the forensic audit being undertaken at the NNPC by the Auditor-General for the Federation and auditors.

It asked the NNPC not pay for its operational expenditures directly from the federation’s funds without appropriation by the National Assembly and that the corporation should strictly adhere to international best practices in keeping records.

Other recommendations are: “That the NNPC should not control the revenue account of the NPDC in order not to undermine its separate legal status and make accountability more difficult.

“That average number of days taken to discharge a vessel load of 33 and a half days as against the expected one and a half days resulting in $207.8m demurrage.

“The committee could not see how the figure of $49.8bn was arrived at by the CBN governor in the first instance.

“That the CBN governor at the first hearing had forwarded the figure of $12bn as money to be reconciled and changed his position to $20bn at subsequent hearings.

“At the conclusion of his written submission, Sanusi posited that it could be $20bn, $12bn, $10.8bn or anything in between.

[size=18pt]“The CBN governor orally or in writing never outright submitted that money was missing but that money was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.”[/size]

The committee also recommended that President Goodluck Jonathan should prepare and present to the National Assembly a supplementary budget to cover the over-expenditure in the sum of N90.693bn for PMS subsidy for 2012.

It also said the sum of N685.910bn for kerosene subsidy expended without appropriation by the National Assembly in 2012 and 2013 should also be covered by the supplementary budget.

The committee observed that there was lack of proper and adequate coordination between key agencies of the government such as Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the CBN, NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, and Federal Inland Revenue Service.

It noted that the issue of non-remittance of oil revenue was not new and that it was the not the CBN governor that first discovered it, adding that it had been a recurring issue at the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee meetings.

[size=18pt]The committee, however, stated that it could not see how the figure of $49.8bn was arrived at by the CBN in the first instance[/size].
http://www.punchng.com/news/sanusi-lied-about-49-8bn-missing-money-senate-committee/

Buhari Demands Audit Report On Missing $20bn

PassingShot:
Brainwashed nincompoop! We're talking of how your wealth is being stolen and you come here to spew rubbish? Did you get a share of the 20 billion dollars? A waste!

major466:
I wish the government will authorize an audit into the operations and account of NNPC to investigate the missing [color=#000000]$3 billion[/color] in 1978 during Buhari's stewardship.
$3 billion dollars in 1978 is equivalent to over $300 billion dollars today!
See Terrible Thief calling someone thief.

GBTYO:
[size=18pt]Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree No. 4,1984[/size]


Drafted on March 29,1984, Decree No. 4 was the most dreaded, most repressive and the last press law enacted in Nigeria. It was promulgated during the military regime of Major General Buhari which did not take kindly to press criticisms.

The law was drafted to punish authors of false statements and reports that exposed the Buhari administration and or its officials to ridicule or contempt.
Section 1, sub-sections (i), (ii) and (iii) of the law - the most formidable section - provided that:
Any person who publishes in any form, whether written or otherwise, any message,rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, statement or report which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Military Government or the Government of a state or public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

Any station for wireless telegraphy which conveys or transmits any sound or visual message, rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, report or statement which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Government or the Government of a state or a public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

It shall be an offence under this Decree for a newspaper or wireless telegraphy station in Nigeria to publish or transmit any message, rumour, report or statement which is false in any material particular stating that any public officer has in any manner been engaged in corrupt practices or has in any manner comiptly enriched himself or any other person {Gazette, 1984).

GBTYO:
The law also conferred on the Head of State the power to ban a newspaper and to revoke the license of a wireless telegraph station in any part of the federation if such action was construed to be in the interest of the nation.

Section 2, sub-sections (i) and (ii) of the law provided that:

Where the Head of the Federal Military Government is satisfied that the unrestricted circulation in Nigeria of a newspaper is or may be detrimental to the interest of the federation or any part thereof, he may by order published in the Gazette, prohibit the circulation in the federation or in any part thereof, as the case may require, of that newspaper; and, unless any other period is prescribed in the code, the prohibition shall continue for a period of twelve months unless sooner revoked or extended, as the case may require.

Where the Head of the Federal Military Government is satisfied that the unrestricted existence in Nigeria of any wireless telegraphy station is detrimental to the interest of the federation or any part thereof, he may by an order published in the Gazette (a) revoke the license to such wireless telegraphy station under the provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1961; or (b) order the closure or forfeiture to the Federal Military Government, as the case may be, of the wireless telegraphy station concerned (Gazette 1984).

GBTYO:
[size=18pt]Decree 4 Convictions could NOT be appealed [/size]

The law also provided that offending journalists and publishers be tried by a military tribunal composed of three members of the armed forces and a serving or retired High Court judge. The tribunal's ruling could not be appealed in any court. Section 8 of the press law specified punishments for offenders, and provided for a prison term of up to two years without the option of a fine. In the case of news media corporations, the decree provided for a fine of not less than 10,000 naira (Ogbondah, 1986).

GBTYO:
[size=18pt]Rationale behind Decree 4[/size]

What was the motive of Decree No. 4? Why was such a dreadful law enacted? One possible reason was to stave off adverse criticism of the government, especially criticism that could suggest that Major General Buhari, the Head of State, or any member of his cabinet was corrupt. Buhari was aware of the rumour that spread when he came to power after toppling the government of President Shehu Shagari that he was corrupt just like the civilian politicians he had overthrown. It was alleged that he corruptly enriched himself when he was a state military governor and also knew about the disappearance of 2.8 billion naira in oil revenue allegedly missing when he was the federal minister for petroleum.

Buhari's awareness of the rumour and his concern about the effect of the rumour regarding the 2.8 billion naira oil money scandal, could be seen from his reference to the scandal during his first interview as Head of State. During that interview, Buhari robustly defended his dealings as .oil minister. He said that a section of the press was merely crying wolf over the issue, and reiterated that no money was lost.
He said: "If there was no judicial inquiry in 1979 when I was in the U.S. War College, I would have been brought up and lynched because someone said that 2.8 billion naira was missing in a place I was for three and a half years, and where I quarreled with friends and everybody because they thought there was so much money, but I refused them access to it. Somebody just got up one day and said money was missing. . . But every body wanted to believe we stole that money" {National Concord, 1984).

The Head of State certainly had little or no doubt that someone might insinuate in the press that he was corrupt, especially when memories were still fresh of press insinuation that former Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed was corrupt. In that instance, a university law lecturer who was also the editor-in-chief of a news magazine, accused the former Head of State of corruptly enriching himself prior to coming to power. Major General Buhari's concern that someone might make similar insinuation in the press about him, and/or members of the cabinet, became more apparent as the fleeing politicians he deposed from office alleged that the in-coming military rulers were as corrupt as the civilians they overthrew.

GBTYO:
[size=18pt]Under intense public pressure, the Shehu Shagari government, which shortly took over thereafter from the military, set up a Senate probe which traced the money to a London Midland Bank account belonging to Buhari from where the money again got missing.[/size]