Emma Ujah
29 August 2008
THE controversial $20 million Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) money lodged in the defunct Transnational Bank by the Obasanjo administration is being recovered, the Executive Secretary (ES) of the fund, Alhaji Kabir Mohammed, has revealed.
Alhaji Mohammed said in a chat in Abuja on Wednesday that already $14 million of the $20 million had been recovered, and that Spring Bank which bought over TIB had been faithfully paying $2 million quarterly, in line with an agreement reached with the management of the PTDF.
According to him, the $100 million invested in Equatorial Trust Bank, about same time, had already been fully returned to the fund.
His words: "Two payments were made that became controversial. One of them was a N100 million lodged with ETB and the other one was the $20 million. So, that one for ETB which you mentioned about GSM, no kobo was lost; every kobo was paid by to the fund.
"The bank (TIB) was bought over by Spring Bank. Spring Bank entered an agreement with the management of PTDF and agreed to be paying up $2 million every quarter. So far, they have paid $14 million and they have never failed. Every quarter, they give us $2 million. We entered into an agreement with them which was approved by the former president and they pay with interest," he said.
The PTDF scribe explained that although there were several controversies on the deployment of PTDF funds in the immediate past, the bulk of the organisation's expenditures were on genuine projects meant to advance the cause of the oil industry.
"For example, most of the projects, we adopt in good faith actually. For example, the bulk of projects we are used to financing are science activities being initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
For example, the computer for all Nigerians, part of the money was used for that. Then people talk of Galaxy Backbone. If you see what Galaxy is doing now, you will definitely see that intervention in Galaxy is something that really, nobody will ever regret we have done.
"The problem is the controversy that arose from the N250 million allegedly paid as consultancy fee otherwise most of the projects are worth the while. It was not as if somebody used the money or took the money into his pocket," he said.
Alhaji Mohammed assured, however, that administration had re-focussed the fund in order to concentrate on its core mandate in line with the directive of President Umaru Yar'Adua who, he said, observed that the PTDF had turned itself into the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
According to him, PTDF would henceforth concentrate on human capital development for the oil and gas industry through scholarships to deserving Nigerians to study both in specialised Nigerian universities and aborad.
"The Fund commits about £24,500 per scholar per academic year. Between 2002 and 2006, a total of £13,159,724 was spent on the training of 596 M.Sc. and 86 Ph.D scholars. In 2007/08, the Fund sponsored a total of 185 students (150 M.Sc. and 35 Ph.D), while for the year 2008/09, the management of the PTDF has increased the number of beneficiaries to about 300 (comprising 250 M.Sc. and 40 Ph.D)," he stated.
He also said the Fund was also involved in various projects in the country especially those relating to the upgrading of facilities in select oil and gas related departments of Nigerian universities.
According to him, eight Nigerian universities had been upgraded to specially provide good environment for the training of Nigerians in the sector. He said about N7 billion had been spent on the universities that were listed on both the first and second phases of the upgrade projects.
University of Port Harcourt, University of Maiduguri, University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, University of Benin, University of Jos, Ahmadu Bello University and Usman Danfodio University were named as those which infrastructure had been upgraded for the purpose.
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After shouting in all the newspapers abount this fund and trying to smear the names of Obasanjo publicly about how millions of dollars are missing all over, the SOLID TRUTH is now progressively opening up. TRUTH IS PERENNIAL! With an administration manned by competent and patriotic politicians the details that are just showing up should have been unearthed without any public pronouncement and without wasting time. These occurences attest to not only ineptitude of those corrupt politicians in the present administratrion involved but a show of their absolute lack of patriotism. THE WORLD IS WATCHING!