Leon Usigbe
25 July 2008
Mystery now surrounds the whereabouts of the sum of $210million paid by two oil companies for oil blocks in the 2003 bid round carried out by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as officials of the department were yesterday unable to account for it in the ongoing investigation by the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee into the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries.
The money involved the $210million paid by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) as signature bonus for oil bloc 245whose record with DPR only reflected the sum of $1million paid, and another payment of $20million made by Zebra Oil but only $19million appeared on DPR record.
This contrasted with the records of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI)'S which audited DPR's account, showing that the amounts had been received.
These facts came to light while the committee members were questioning former Director of DPR, Chief Mark Ofurhe who pleaded for time to study his records in order to determine whether or not the monies existed but he however added that he did not know the source of NEITI figures.
He stated that inconsistencies might have resulted from the process because the DPR was not the final authority in oil blocs negotiations insisting that he had not seen the report of NEITI, saying, "the actual negotiation was beyond DPR.
I have not seen this before. I don't know how you came about it."
However, Mr. Babatunde Ajumobi representing DPR, traced the history of the block 245 bid saying that it was awarded to Malabo Oil in 2003 at which time Shell was its technical partner but was later revoked and given to Shell which according to him, paid $1million instead of the $20million on NEITI's record.
"Bloc 245 was awarded to Malabo in 2003 at which time Shell was the technical partner. Just all of a sudden, the table turned and it was revoked and awarded to Shell which wanted to retain it at all cost and it paid $1million. The other was to have been paid into the escrow account but I don't know whether it has been paid today," he stated.
Apparently unconvinced by his explanation, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Igo Aguma directed that the former DPR director to provide necessary clarifications to the committee by Wednesday next week.
Also, the issue of who authorized the various bid transactions also came in focus during yesterday's hearing as the committee wanted to know who exactly was the Minister cited as the approving authority in the process against the backdrop of former President Olusegun Obasanjo retaining the portfolio of the Minister of Petroleum.
This followed the revelation by Chief Ofurhe that a list of bidders was sent to his office through a letter from the Special Assistant to the President on Petroleum during the selective bid that was done in 2002 to which the committee wanted to know from whose authority the Presidential Assistant produced the bidders.
Chief Ofurhe responded that the bid came from the office of the former Special Adviser to the President; Dr. Rilwanu Lukman who he stated was his direct boss saying "the bid came from the office of the Presidential Adviser to whom we were reporting. He was our boss. If I got it from the adviser, it would be deemed to have come from the appropriate source."
When members of the committee sought to know whether the Special Adviser conformed to the Constitution when he performed the statutory function of the Minister of Petroleum, Chief Ofurhe remarked that he believed President Obasanjo approved the action of the Dr.Lukman.
"I was clear in mind that Presidential Adviser would not give instruction that he did not have authority to. If in the long run that exercise was approved by the minister. If he (Minister) did not approve that, I wouldn't see how he would approve it finally. The reporting line was for me to report to the Presidential Adviser and it is written clearly to me.
If the Special Assistant acted using the letter head of the Presidential Adviser, I believe he was acting appropriately," the former DPR director stated.
A member of the committee, Rep. Leo Ogor alerted the committee that DPR had circumvented the Constitution by failing to remit incomes generated in the processing of Marginal Oils Fields application which amounted to $6million by appropriating it without recourse to the National Assembly.
However, former Director of DPR, Mr. Tony Chukwueke explained that income was generated because of the decision of former President Obasanjo to establish processing fee for the bid rounds to enable DPR to process the applications from bidders, adding that the money was mainly utilized for advertisements and travels expenses of officials.
According to him, the money that was realized from the sale of application forms was paid into a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account which DPR was unable to access.
"Obasanjo established the processing fee to enable the dept to executive the bid rounds. That is why traditionally, the application fee goes to the Federal Government as revenue and the bid processing fee comes to DPR. In 2005, we put the processing fee into CBN account but could not take money out of it in 2006 bid round and we went to the Accountant General," he said.
In response to a question from the committee, he conceded that DPR did not officially write the CBN to withdraw the money but only sought clarification from the apex bank on how DPR could access it to which the CBN replied that the department needed to comply with due process.
"We never wrote to CBN to take the money but sought clarification on how we can draw from it. They said we had to apply after due process is followed. That the contract must be duly awarded and it has to be in the form of mandate because there is no mandate," he maintained.
The chairman of the committee explained that what the CBN simply told the DPR was for the department to seek the approval of the National Assembly before it could draw from the account but instead of seeking the approval of the lawmakers, the department opened an alternative account with Diamond Bank.
"CBN told you that you had to go the National Assembly but in order to circumvent the National Assembly you opened an account in Diamond Bank. You opened the account because of the impediment in drawing the account in CBN," Rep. Aguma declared.
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nigerians, this is thesame pen robbers at work. until we pass the freedom of information bill, our country will continue to be milked by these ruthless politicians. i call on all good natured nigerians, to prepare to rescue, this country from these hoodlums. president, sign the FOIB into law, and nigerians will make u a life time president. if u dont, then u and yr crew are pen robbers too. how can u stop the arrest of imoke? do u know nigerians are watching? the niger delta issue will be a child,s play, if u don,t sign that freedom of information bill into law. it is only a free press that checks the excesses of the governors, for the governed, benefit. i am as usual; G.C.