PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012
Ribadu Report: Dead on arrival? Abdu Labaran Malumfashi
F
rom the government’s body language, it is safe to conclude that the Ribadu committee report will end up the same way reports do that are opposed to the liking and thinking of those in power. Two statements make that abundantly clear. The Presidency’s claim that the report was leaked so as to embarrass the government and Petroleum Minister Alison Madueke’s description of the report as a mare draft are proof that the last may have been heard about the report which alleges massive corruption in the oil industry, especially in the last couple of years. When in early February the government through the ministry of Petroleum Resources announced a 17man Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force under the chairmanship of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, there was a lot of Kudos from the people and chest beating by the government. The committee, according to a press statement from petroleum ministry then, was set up with a view to enhancing probity and accountability in operations of the Petroleum Industry “consistent with the policies and promises of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Administration, and underpinned by the yearnings of the people of Nigeria for transparency in the Petroleum Industry”. The committee’s terms of reference were; 1. To work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes, royalties, etc.) due and payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria; 2. To take all necessary steps to collect all debts due and owing; to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms by all oil industry operators; 3. To design a cross debt matrix between all Agencies and Parastatals of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources; 4. To develop an automated platform to enable effective tracking, monitoring, and online validation of income and debt drivers of all Parastatals and Agencies in the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources; 5. To work with world-class consultants to integrate systems and technology across the production chain to determine and monitor crude oil production and exports, ensuring at all times, the integrity of payments to the Federal Government of Nigeria; and, 6. To submit monthly reports for ministerial review and further action. Consistent with what the people have suspected all along, the yet-to-be-released report of
That Nigeria is unashamedly corrupt is axiomatic; and its 2000 rating by Transparency International as the most corrupt country in the world, US State Department’s 2011 report on global human rights report and the report of the Ribadu-led Task Force on oil revenue are proof of that nauseating corruption. But a more poignant confirmation is the government’s practice of dumping in the trash bin any indicting report about corruption in the country. Such was the fate of the 2008 House of Representatives $16 billion power report. Will the Ribadu Committee report suffer the same fate?
President Goodluck Jonathan the Ribadu-led committee, gleaned by Reuters and Financial Times, exposed massive corruption, with hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for. According to the report, ministers of petroleum Resources between 2008 and 2011 handed out seven discretionary oil licences, but that $183m in signature bonuses was nowhere to be found, with three of the licences awarded since the incumbent minister, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke was appointed in 2010. The report, as quoted by the foreign media, also suggested that Nigeria “may have lost $29billion in the last decade in the sweet-heart gas deals with major oil companies, such as Shell and Total, just as crude oil theft is reaching an alarming level of 250,000 barrels daily at a cost of $6.3billion a year”. Three of the oil licences were awarded since the current minister, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, took up her position in 2010, according to the report. Not unexpectedly, while denying giving any discretionary awards, the petroleum minister called the
Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke
Malam Nuhu Ribadu report “a draft”, even though Reuters said that the report it saw was labelled “Final Report.” “It is a draft,” the minister declared, adding that “There will be some areas where the government ... may have a
slightly different opinion ... (and) will put its point of view to the committee.” Reacting on the leaked report, Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that as the committee had not formally submitted its report to
the appropriate authority, the excerpts could therefore not be taken as an official document. According to Dr. Abati, “It is strange that government will set up a committee, that report has not been submitted to the authorities that set up the committee and the report will be found on the pages of newspapers. “The report cannot be taken as an official document because the proper procedure is for committees set up by the government to submit their reports to the government. In principle, this report in the public domain is suspicious because it was not submitted to the appropriate authority. “If every committee set up by government goes above the system to leak reports, there can be chaos. Whoever leaked the report, if indeed the report is genuine, does not mean well. Whoever is behind it is out to embarrass the government.” These reactions did not come as a surprise as they are only consistent with government attitude toward any report that does not go the way of the liking of the leadership. They also raise fears that the report of the Ribadu committee may be dead even before its arrival.