BREAKING: Buhari SACKS Ibe Kachikwu As NNP GMD, Appoints Replacement

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and replaced him with Maikanti Baru. 

In a press statement issued today in Abuja, the president office stated that Kachikwu as the minister for State for Petroleum will now be the chairman of the Board of the NNPC.

 See full statement below:

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the composition of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.

The new board is composed of the following:

A. Chairman-Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum;

B. Group Managing Director- Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru;

C. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; and 

D. The following six persons:

1. Mallam Abba Kyari

2. Dr Thomas M.A John

3. Dr Pius O. Akinyelure

4. Dr Tajuddeen Umar

5. Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and

6. Mallam Yusuf Lawal.

President Buhari urges the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of the NNPC, " and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset."

FEMI ADESINA

Special Adviser

(Media and Publicity)

July 4, 2016

Photo Of Suspected Niger Delta Avengers Coordinator, Other Arrested By The Navy

The  Nigeria Navy has claimed it has arrested a militant believed to be coordinator of the multiple attacks on oil and gas facilities in Delta State has been arrested The Nation has reported this morning

He was yesterday paraded along with some other suspects by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta in Warri.

Also paraded were six other suspects arrested for other crimes, among them, the suspected killers of some security personnel and civilians in Batan, Warri South-West council area of Delta State on April 30.

Also yesterday, the Federal Government was praised for initiating a ceasefire in Delta State creeks in the ongoing effort to restore peace to the volatile area.

The Commander of the NNS Delta, Commodore Raimi Mohammed, at a press conference held at the base of the command in Warri, described the arrest of the suspected coordinator of the attacks on Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) facilities as “a star success”.

He believes that his arrest would curtail further attacks.

Commodore Mohammed, who did not name the suspects, particularly the three key suspects, said his command worked in synergy with other law enforcement agencies to achieve the feat, adding that they all followed up on the investigations and interrogations that made the arrests possible.

“Today I am pleased to announce that after several weeks of persistent efforts, the Nigerian Navy, in collaboration with other security agencies, has arrested the main coordinator of attacks on NNPC and Chevron oil and gas facilities that we have witnessed since May 4, 2016, with the attack on Chevron’s Okan valve platform, offshore Escravos.

“This arrest came after weeks of trailing and arrest of his foot-soldiers. It is important to mention that the suspect is also deeply involved in pipeline vandalism for stealing crude oil. He steals crude oil from about 35 abandoned oil well-heads and crude oil pipelines in Okpoko and Obodo in Warri South-West council area of Delta state. The Nigerian Navy believes with the arrest of this suspect, the attacks on Chevron/NNPC oil and gas facilities will abate,” the naval chief said.

He said that the command was on the trail of his collaborators and foot-soldiers, whom he said were on the run, adding that materials used in blowing up and vandalising facilities had been recovered.

Commodore Mohammed revealed that a key arrest had also been made in the investigation of the attack last week on the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC’s) 48-inch crude export pipeline in Forcados.

Asked if any of the key arrests had led to the unveiling of those behind the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), the officer said his concern was not about names of persons or groups, but about the actual persons involved in the attacks.

For the Federal Government, it has been praises for initiating the ceasefire in the creeks of Delta State after months of military onslaught against rampaging Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).

The Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), a non-governmental Organisation (NGO) which gave the commendation, described it as a welcome development.

But it urged the government not to politicise the dialogue to be led by the National Security Adviser (NSA). Critical stakeholders from the core oil producing communities should be included in the process otherwise the impact would not trickle down to the grassroots, the NGO said.

In a statement signed by it National Coordinator, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, CEPEJ said: “Most of the crises are being perceived to be sponsored by the political class to gain more relevance.”

The Center observed that several dialogues had been held in the past on the development of the Niger Delta, but the resolutions were never implemented.

‘’We want to believe that this is not another political gimmick but a genuine intention to address the problem once and for all,” it said.

CEPEJ urged the communities to take advantage of the proposed parley by electing credible leaders to lead the talks on their behalf and not succumb to the whims and caprices of politicians.

The NGO called on the militants to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue as the only veritable and viable means to resolving conflicts and not personalise the Niger Delta question.

‘’Niger Delta Avengers should sheathe their swords and embrace peace. The issues they are fighting for are not personal. The problem of underdevelopment is encompassing the Niger Delta region. They should give room for dialogue.’’

TheNation

Another $3.8b, N358b Theft Discovered In Diezani's NNPC Admin, You'll Cry For Nigeria

Fresh revelation according to Minister of Solid Mineral, Dr. Kayode Fayemi suggests that a sum of $3.8billion and another N358.3billion oil revenues that should have gone to Federation in 2013 was not remitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its sub-units, the Nigeria Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI), uder the watch of former Minister of Petroleum,  Alison Diezani-Madueke.

 The report, which covered activities of the oil and gas and mining sectors in 2013, was unveiled by the Chairman of NEITI, Kayode Fayemi on Monday in Abuja.

Aside the outstanding revenues from NNPC, Fayemi said, citing the report, that the sums of $5.966billion and N20.4billion revenues were denied the federation due to crude oil swaps and crude theft.

 Highlights of the report  added that the sum of $599.8million was also lost as a result of under-payments of petroleum profit taxes and royalties by oil and gas companies.

 The audit also revealed that the Nigeria Liquefied Natural gas (NLNG) paid the sum of $1.289 billion as dividends, interest and loan repayment for 2013.

However, while NNPC acknowledged receipt of the amount, it did not remit the money to either the federal government or the Federation.

The amount brings to a total of $12.9 billion the total NLNG payments received by NNPC between 2005 and 2013 but not remitted by NNPC to the federal government, the report showed.

NLNG is a joint venture project owned by four shareholders namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the NNPC which has a 49 per cent stake, Shell Gas BV, SGBV, 25.6 per cent; Total LNG Nigeria Limited, 15 per cent; and Eni International (N.A,) N.V. S. A, 10.4 per cent.

Daily Trust

Inconsistent Kachikwu Gives New Date To End Fuel Scarcity

In a manner that could be described as inconsistency, the minister of state for petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, has once again reassured Nigerians that the ongoing nationwide fuel scarcity would end next week.

Before now, he has given two different days to end the fuels scarcity, both dates have come and gone, but the solution-defying scarcity lingers on

Speaking at the State House after the FEC meeting, Kachikwu said that the queues were expected to completely disappear by the end of next week.

According to him, the development was as a result of sabotage.

He, however, thanked Nigerians for their patience so far.

He said, “The queues are as a result of sabotage. Some people rather than sell products send them into hinterlands where they can sell at ridiculous prices and so you are having these price distortions where people are making a lot of money, some are internal and some are external but a lot of it is marketers trying to make quick returns on their investments wrongly.

“We have asked DPR to deploy officials to ensure products are sold at the right because is only through price stabilization that these system queues will disappear.”

“As at today, we are delivering about 1,200 trucks, by the weekend we should be delivering the same number of trucks, it will take a bit of the days to even out but you can see improvement already. I hope by the end of next week with the refineries helping us to stay on course, every part of the country will get fuels.

“We thank President, NNPC staff and ministries who work night and day to enforce discipline.

“We thank Nigerians for their unbelievable level of patience, we are solving problem we met on ground and trying to find long term solution to it and urge Nigerians to report sabotage, where people are selling product on higher price because we all need to work collectively to make this thing go for good”, he said.

BREAKING: Buhari Returns Petrol Subsidy

Punch Newspaper - The Federal Government on Saturday returned the payment of subsidy on petrol as it subsidised the commodity by N5.84 for every litre of premium motor spirit consumed in Nigeria.

Subsidy on petrol was stopped in January after the review of the pricing template of the product by the government.

It also announced that the current official pump prices of petrol would remain at N86 per litre when purchased at filling stations run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and N86.5 per litre when sold at outlets operated by other oil marketers.

The government further said petrol scarcity would end in a few days, but was silent on the specific day or date.

Figures from the latest pricing templates of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency released on Saturday, showed that the Federal Government was paying N5.84 as subsidy on every litre of petrol sold at non-NNPC filling stations.

The PPPRA is the agency of the Federal Government that regulates the prices of white products — petrol and kerosene, across the country.

According to the agency, the Expected Open Market Price of petrol for non-NNPC stations as at April 2, 2016, was N92.34 per litre, against an official pump price of N86.5 per litre, leaving an under-recovery or subsidy of N5.84 per litre.

Similarly, the template for NNPC-run stations showed that the government was paying N5.80 per litre as subsidy, as the EOMP for outlets in this category was N91.80 per litre as against an official rate of N86 per litre.

The EOMP is the actual cost of petrol without subsidy and comprises of the landing cost of the product as well as its subtotal margins like transporters charge, admin fee, dealers cost, bridging fund, etc.

On the retained pump price of petrol, the Acting Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Mrs. Sotonye Iyoyo, said, “The agency is retaining the retail prices of N86.00 for the NNPC, and N86.50 for the other marketing companies. The pump price of household kerosene also remains unchanged from what it was in the last quarter.

“Therefore, marketers are advised to ensure that there is no price distortion in their respective retail outlets. PPPRA, however, shall continue to monitor the global oil market performances, and come up, at appropriate time, with reasonable changes consistent with the newly-adopted price modulation principles.”

On news making the rounds that the agency was planning to increase the petrol price, Iyoyo urged members of the public to ignore such rumour, as prevailing market indicators do not support such.

She also called on motorists to desist from panic-buying, stressing that “PPPRA was working hard with other sister-organisations to ensure that the current supply and distribution challenges were resolved within the coming days.”

Meanwhile, the agency stated that it had released the second quarter allocations for the supply of petrol, based on the approval of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

It said, “In the latest release, the apex national oil company, the NNPC, has 41.74 per cent of the total allocation, while the rest of the oil marketing companies got a total allocation of 58.27 per cent.”

Like Jonathan's, $4.2bn 'Missing' At NNPC Under Buhari - New Report Reveals

The era of questionable remittance from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to the Federal Government purse, which Nigerians thought could have gone with the ouster President Goodluck Jonathan is still much more continuing.

Report according to Daily trust suggests that new report revealed that a huge sum of $4.2 billion is yet to be remitted to the coffer of the Federal Government under the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Below is the Full Report According to Daily Trust Newspaper:

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) continues to withhold billions of dollars in oil sale revenues from the treasury under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, a new report said.

The report released yesterday by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) said in the second half of 2015, NNPC’s sales of export crude, domestic crude and oil from its subsidiary the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) totaled $6.3 billion.

Of this amount, only $2.1 billion entered the Federation Account while $4.2 billion (N827.4 billion) was not remitted, representing 66 percent of proceeds from crude oil sales for the six months, according to the NRGI report titled “NNPC Still Holds Blank Check”.

“This was 14 percent more than the corporation’s withholdings under Goodluck Jonathan in the first half of 2015, and 12 percent higher than the share withheld in 2013 and 2014,” the report, authored by Aaron Sayne and Alexandra Gillies, said.

The latest report, which is a follow up to a previous one by NRGI in 2015, themed “Inside NNPC Oil Sales: A Case for Reform,” however said some of NNPC’s withholdings cover known costs, notably its share of joint venture operating expenses.

“The corporation has not fully explained others; especially revenues retained from domestic crude and NPDC sales,” it said.

The report said that NNPC spending raises questions about fiscal responsibility–especially at a time when public finances are stretched and the federal government is looking to fund more of its budget with debt.

Makeshift practices remain

While acknowledging some of the ongoing reforms instituted by the Buhari administration in the oil sector, the report said the plans have not yet addressed how NNPC retains revenues.

On how NNPC sells the country’s oil in two streams-export sales to foreign buyers and domestic crude allocation, the report said, “This simple two-part system has broken down, however. As NNPC’s financial debts and operational problems have deepened, it has introduced more types of ad hoc oil sale transactions to work around these challenges.”

The NRGI report, which tried to unravel where the $4.2 billion of NNPC oil sales that didn’t enter the federation account went to, found that some of the money went to pay JV cash call liabilities, rather than entering the government budget while some others were spent in an unknown manner.

“In one especially questionable case, we found evidence that NNPC has retained all earnings from the offshore Oil Mining Lease (OML) 119, a field owned wholly by NPDC that produces around 30,000 barrels per day of Okono grade crude,” the report said. 

The report recommended that the Buhari government should establish a clear, legally enforceable rule governing which revenues NNPC can keep and how they can be spent.

It also advised the government to move to curb the corporation’s discretionary, unaccountable use of much-needed public funds.

When contacted for comments, the NNPC said it was preparing a response to the NRGI report. But the response did not come at the time of going to press.

Daily Trust reports that the Auditor-General of Federation recently reported that the NNPC failed to remit N3.2tr ($16bn) in oil revenues to the federation account in 2014. A week later, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) put the amount not remitted by the NNPC between 2011 and 2015 at N4.9tr ($25 bn).

NNPC disputed the auditor-general’s claims by putting out a third set of figures, saying what it owed the Federation Account was N326bn which is still being reconciled. NNPC has also promised that a forensic audit, due soon, would validate its position.