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MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017 • T H I S D AY
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Governors Deny Alleged Diversion of Paris-London Clubs Refund James Emejo in Abuja The 36 state governors in the country under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have refuted allegations that monies accruing to states from the Paris and London Clubs refunds have ended in private pockets. They further contended that nothing illegal had been committed in the entire process leading to the final disbursement of the first tranche Paris-London Clubs repayment of the excess deductions from states’ coffers and the refund to states. In a statement by the Head of Media and Public Affairs, NGF, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the governors explained that the Paris-London Clubs refunds has been on the cards since 2005 and that successive state governors had tried to get reimbursement of the excess deductions from their states in the past but did not succeed. They credited the present NGF for persuading President Muhammadu Buhari to authorise the release of the refunds for disbursement to the deserving states. The governors described
the allegations as not only unfounded but misleading given that if the federal government had found “anything corrupt, illegal and unpatriotic about the payment or the utilisation of the first tranche of the Paris-London Clubs Fund repayment to states”, it would not have approved the payment of the second tranche to the states. The governors, in the statement said: “In any case, those writing those fictitious reports on the payment have also acknowledged that the president has insisted on the verification of the process of utilisation of the first tranche before the second is approved for release. “Note also most importantly at this juncture, that every decision that was taken in respect of all the transactions was with the full consent and blessing of the 36 governors. “We therefore find the insinuation that monies went into the private accounts of seven unidentified governors as not only preposterous but mischievous.” The forum further regretted that none of the media reports was able to “identify a single
governor, not to mention seven of them”. The governors added: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) itself had issued a release exculpating all the governors, saying it was investigating the matter further. “But instead of allowing the EFCC to conclude its investigations, a particular section of the media resorted to this unsavory falsehood which puts the media and its practitioners in bad light.” They maintained that due process was diligently followed by all approving authorities, including the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, and that the National Assembly was duly informed from the beginning to the end of all the transactions. The governors submitted that “nothing illegal was done and no monies was paid into the personal account of any governor, legislator or top officials at any of the levels and arms of government in the country”. The forum urged the media to
be more responsible and abide by their professional ethics and desist from misinforming the society. The statement read in part: “President Buhari’s desire to reflate the economy at a time when states were insolvent and unable to pay salaries was why he acceded to the request by the current group of governors that the money be released to the states. “It is true that there were conditions attached to the disbursements but these arose from the collective and voluntary resolution of the governors and not any draconian order from any quarters. “It shows that the governors themselves are responsible, sensitive and compassionate enough to understand the plight of Nigerians that they govern and therefore work in the interest of their people. “It is important to state that in approving the repayment, due process was diligently followed and each and every approving authority, including the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria and Office of the Auditor
General of the Federation as well as the National Assembly were duly informed from the beginning to the end of all the transactions. “Nothing illegal was done and no monies was paid into the personal account of any governor, legislator or top officials at any of the levels and arms of government in the country. “This brings us to the issue of consultants who facilitated the process. Indeed, a number of consultants were saddled with the task of verifying the amounts due to each of the states. “These consultants were recruited by the respective states but were eventually collapsed into a consortium of only a few, even though the others who did not make it to the final group were reimbursed according to their input. “Many more consultants throughout the country are still insisting that they did work on this same Paris-London Clubs repayments since a decade ago and that they are entitled to some compensation as well. “Many of them had actually and verifiably done some work in the past and negotiated a fee of between 10 per cent and 30
per cent, with the different states that engaged them. “It was therefore immoral and impossible to deny each their due, provided their input is verified and justified. “It should be noted that if the federal government under the watch of President Buhari had found anything corrupt, illegal and unpatriotic about the payment or the utilisation of the first tranche of the Paris-London Clubs repayment to states, it would not have approved the payment of the second tranche to the states. “After all, we all know the unimpeachable level of commitment of President Buhari on the issues of transparency and accountability. “In any case, those writing those fictitious reports on the payment have also acknowledged that the president has insisted on the verification of the process of utilisation of the first tranche before the second is approved for release. “Note also most importantly at this juncture, that every decision that was taken in respect of all the transactions was with the full consent and blessing of the 36 governors.”
information provide leads in the recovery of stolen funds and assets. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the assurance to the public in a statement after concerned citizens drew the attention of the Presidential Assets Recovery Committee to the recriminations whistleblowers were being subjected to in some public establishments. While reiterating the desire of government to reward whistleblowers in both the public and the private sectors, Mohammed assured that their identity would be protected and the information they disclosed kept secret. “'For those who may have suffered any backlash as a result of the information they provide, their cases will be reviewed and appropriate mitigating actions taken. “Whistleblowers have nothing to fear, because the committee has put in place the necessary measures to safeguard those who give useful information. “As a matter of fact, whistleblowers have everything to gain and nothing to lose,” he said. Mohammed stressed that in line with the policy, anybody whose information leads to the recovery of up to N5 billion
could be rewarded handsomely to the tune of N210 million, calculated as N50 million on the first N1 billion (five per cent) and N160 million which is 4 per cent of the remaining N4 billion. He added further that any amount that exceeds N5 billion would attract a higher reward. “For example, if a whistleblower provides information leading to the recovery of N10 billion, he or she will receive 5 per cent of the first N1 billion, 4 per cent of the next N4 billion and 2.5 per cent of the remaining N5 billion. “What we have done by making this information public is to reassure potential whistleblowers that the plan to reward is real. We are not just saying we will pay all whistleblowers, but we are letting them know in advance what they are entitled to once the information they provide leads to the recovery of looted funds,” he said. A civil servant working for the Foreign Affairs Ministry was said to be have been sacked after exposing alleged theft in an agency of the ministry. His case is now under review by the minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, following the directive of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
channels for petroleum products in the country. According to him, the current transparency in petroleum products distribution had brought sanity to the country’s downstream sector. “Let me congratulate you on the sanity that has come to petroleum products distribution in Nigeria. “There is sanity now and we want to thank the NNPC group for the sanity, openness and transparency they have brought to the distribution of petroleum products in the country. “Though there is still much to do, the openness has brought a lot of comfort to Nigerians,” said Afe.
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BANKERS JOIN WHISTLEBLOWING BANDWAGON, EXPOSE ILLICIT TRANSACTIONS OF PUBLIC OFFICERS As a result, since the federal government unveiled the whistleblowing policy as a means of recovering stolen public sector funds, a number of junior and middle-level bankers have been quietly ratting on the true beneficiaries of the accounts in order to cash-in on the rewards derivable from the policy. The EFCC source informed THISDAY that once the commission is contacted by a banker, it is usually easy to identify the real beneficiary of the bank accounts through the Bank Verification Number (BVN), since an account holder can only have one BVN for all of his individual and company accounts. The source said: “Junior to middle-level account officers in the banks are the major whistleblowers. That is why we (EFCC) have been recovering a lot of money since the policy was unveiled. “They are ratting on politicians and public office holders. Some of these politicians use shell companies; some use companies in which they are not even directors or shareholders. Some also use friends, family members and associates. “But because the public office holders still manage the accounts themselves, the BVNs can still be traced to them.
“For instance, once there is a suspicious bank account, the account officer informs the EFCC, which in turn carries out the investigation and then gets a freeze order on the account(s), following which the suspect will be invited for interrogation.” THISDAY also learnt that the $9.8 million recovered by the EFCC from a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Andrew Yakubu, was the fallout of a clash between Yakubu and his political opponents in Kaduna States, who used a very close family member of the former NNPC boss to snitch on him to the anti-graft agency. A special operation conducted by EFCC operatives on February 3, 2017 on a building belonging to Yakubu in Kaduna, yielded the staggering sum and another £74,000 in cash. The huge cash was hidden in a fire proof safe in the building. However, the EFCC source explained that the family member, whose identity has been kept under wraps for security reasons, may not be entitled to the reward provided in the whistleblowing policy, because Yakubu who has maintained that the cash found in the house was a gift, has challenged the temporary forfeiture order
obtained by the EFCC from the court to the federal government. “Should he win his case and the amount returned, the whistleblower will not be entitled to anything,” the source said. The source said one way that the government could encourage more whistleblowing is by being transparent on how much has been paid to individuals who have gone on a limb to expose illicit transactions without disclosing their identities. “That way, more people will be encouraged to expose illegal activities in their organisations and in the public sector,” he said. The federal government last December approved a whistleblowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in both the public and the private sectors. Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun had while urging Nigerians to key into the scheme said the policy devised by her ministry was aimed at encouraging anyone with information about a violation, misconduct or improper activity that impacts negatively on Nigerians and government to report it. According to her, the policy’s objective is to increase exposure of financial or financial-related crimes; support the fight against financial crimes and
corruption; improve the level of public confidence in public entities; enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public funds; improve Nigeria’s Open Government Ranking and Ease of Doing Business Indicators; and recover public funds that can be deployed to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit. She listed information that could be submitted to include: mismanagement or misappropriation of public funds and assets (e.g. properties and vehicles); financial malpractice or fraud; collecting/ soliciting bribes; corruption; diversion of revenue; fraudulent and unapproved payments; splitting of contracts; procurement fraud (kickbacks and over-invoicing etc.). The minister defined a whistleblower as any person who voluntarily discloses information in good faith about a possible misconduct or violation that has occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur. The reward for a whistleblower was put at between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered. Meanwhile, the federal government at the weekend reiterated its desire to protect and reward whistleblowers whose
NNPC STOCKPILES PETROL AS CBN SELLS FX TO MARKETERS FOR DIESEL, ATK IMPORTS (forex) to oil marketers to import diesel and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK). NNPC noted that its petroleum product supply outlook for March to May 2017 was looking good and that it has taken adequate steps to ensure stability in supply of diesel and aviation fuel. According to it, the corporation will equally import diesel to supplement the quantities it gets from its refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt. In addition, NNPC stated that it has re-commissioned its strategic 479.2km System 2B petroleum products pipeline network which stretches from the Atlas Cove in Lagos to Mosimi,
Ejigbo, Ibadan and Ilorin, for the effective distribution of petroleum products nationwide, especially with the envisaged resumption of loading activities at the Mosimi, Ejigbo and Ibadan depots. The Calabar and Aba depots, it added, have also been stocked with diesel while diesel load out from its Kano depot would commence soon. Ughamadu added in a separate statement that the NNPC has indicated to the Oil and Gas Trainers Association (OGTAN) that it would improve on its engagements with the body to cut down its annual expenditure on the training of its workforce abroad. OGTAN is an independent
umbrella group that provides training to service providers in the oil and gas industry. It was established by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in 2010 to represent the education and training sectoral group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) under Section 58 of the Local Content Act. The statement said the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru made the remark when the President of OGTAN, Dr. Mayowa Afe, visited him in his office. Baru said rather than going overseas, the NNPC would consider working with OGTAN as a local partner to reduce its
training cost. “As much as possible, we will continue to utilise the services of OGTAN members in order to upgrade our human resources to be able to meet the challenges in the oil and gas industry,” Baru said while commending OGTAN for growing the training component of the Nigerian Content policy. He stated that while the NNPC had been at the forefront of growing local skills for the oil and gas industry, which had led to the rise of indigenous welders and fabricators, OGTAN’s training has been key to growing local expertise for Nigeria’s petroleum industry. Afe commended the NNPC for sanitising the distribution
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