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4 THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015<br />
NEWS<br />
•A member of the Indian Air Force carries a Nepalese child in Saturday’s earthquake to a waiting ambulance in Kathmandu…yesterday.<br />
Mimiko gets new deputy as Ondo House sacks Olanusi<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
was floored by Gen. Buhari.<br />
Olanusi later explained that he<br />
had been having a raw deal with<br />
his boss who defected from the<br />
Labour Party (LP) where they<br />
both were to the PDP without informing<br />
him.<br />
Last week, the House of Assembly<br />
directed the Chief Judge<br />
to raise a panel to probe the allegations<br />
against Olanusi, who insisted<br />
that he was never served<br />
the impeachment notice.<br />
The panel sat for a few hours<br />
and sent a report, which the<br />
House accepted yesterday, impeaching<br />
Olanusi and approving<br />
Mimiko’s recommendation<br />
of Alhaji Lassisi Oluboyo, the<br />
Commissioner for Agriculture,<br />
as deputy governor.<br />
The lawmakers impeached<br />
Olanusi following a recommendation<br />
of a report submitted by<br />
the seven-man panel, headed by<br />
retired Magistrate Olatunji Adeniyan,<br />
which was constituted<br />
by Chief Judge Olasehinde Kumuyi<br />
to investigate the seven allegations<br />
levelled against Olanusi.<br />
The report submitted by the<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
ficials – said the oil giant<br />
should have refunded $4.29billion.<br />
Besides, the report opened a<br />
can of worms, returning a<br />
damning verdict on NNPC’s<br />
operations.<br />
The Nigeria Petroleum Development<br />
Corporation (NPDC),<br />
according to the auditors, was<br />
hostile. It made its job difficult.<br />
Petroleum Minister Mrs Diezani<br />
Alison-Madueke said last<br />
week that $1.48billion was unremitted,<br />
adding that the<br />
NPDC was already returning<br />
cash.<br />
The NNPC, said the report,<br />
was making deductions in its<br />
revenue before remitting funds<br />
to the treasury.<br />
PwC stated: “Clarity is required<br />
on whether such deductions<br />
should be made by NNPC<br />
as a first line charge, before remitting<br />
the net proceeds of domestic<br />
crude to the federation<br />
accounts. If these are deemed<br />
not to be valid deductions, then<br />
the amount due from NNPC<br />
would be estimated at $2.07 billion<br />
(without considering expected<br />
known remittances from<br />
NPDC) or $4.29 billion (if expected<br />
known remittances from<br />
NPDC are considered).”<br />
PwC came to this conclusion<br />
because between 12 January<br />
and 29 January 2015, the audit<br />
firm confirmed that “NNPC<br />
panel to Speaker Jumoke Akindele<br />
reads: “Placing reliance on<br />
the meaning of gross misconduct<br />
as defined in Section 188<br />
(11) of the Constitution of the<br />
Federal Republic of Nigeria,<br />
1999 as amended, we hereby<br />
The multi-billion dollar NNPC fraud, by auditors<br />
Impeachment can’t stand, says APC<br />
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday<br />
rejected the impeachment of Ondo<br />
State Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi.<br />
It said the process leading to his removal violated<br />
provisions of the impeachment clause in<br />
the 1999 Constitution.<br />
The party said the House of Assembly’s action<br />
was in disobedience of a court order which<br />
asked all parties to maintain the status quo in a<br />
suit the deputy governor filed challenging the<br />
plot to impeach him.<br />
The party’s National Vice Chairman in charge<br />
of SouthWest, Chief Pius Akinyelure, faulted<br />
Olanusi’s impeachment, noting that the decision<br />
of the Assembly, which he said acted as<br />
Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s rubber stamp,<br />
would not stand.<br />
Akinyelure described the impeachment as a<br />
mockery of constitutional order, which he said<br />
Mimiko and members of the Assembly swore<br />
to uphold.<br />
find that the allegations of gross<br />
misconduct levelled against the<br />
Ondo State Deputy Governor<br />
are established.”<br />
Majority Leader Olugbenga<br />
Akinsoyinu moved the motion<br />
for Olanusi’s impeachment. It<br />
provided transaction documents<br />
representing additional<br />
costs of $2.81 billion related to<br />
the review period, citing the<br />
NNPC Act LFN No 33 of 1977<br />
that allows such deductions”.<br />
PwC said it did not have access<br />
to NPDC’s full accounts<br />
and records “and we have not<br />
ascertained the amount of costs<br />
and expenses which should be<br />
applied to the $5.11billion crude<br />
oil revenue (net of royalties and<br />
PPT paid) per the NPDC submission<br />
to the Senate Committee<br />
which should be considered<br />
as dividend payment by NPDC<br />
to NNPC for ultimate remittance<br />
to the Federation Account.”<br />
There were suggestions that<br />
the NNPC cooked the books.<br />
The oil giant, the audit firm<br />
said, “provided information on<br />
the difference leading to a potential<br />
excess remittance of<br />
$0.74 billion (without considering<br />
expected remittances from<br />
NPDC). Other indirect costs of<br />
$2.81billion, which were not<br />
part of the submission to the<br />
Senate Committee hearing have<br />
been defrayed to arrive at this<br />
position.”<br />
In its comments section, PwC<br />
noted that it did not obtain any<br />
information directly from<br />
NPDC, “but in accordance with<br />
NPDC former Managing Director’s<br />
(Mr Briggs Victor’s) submission<br />
to the Senate Committee<br />
hearing on the subject matter,<br />
for the period, NPDC generated<br />
$5.11billion (net of royalties<br />
and petroleum profits tax<br />
paid).”<br />
As a result, PwC said it relied<br />
on the legal opinion provided<br />
to the Senate Committee by the<br />
Attorney General (AG), Mr Bello<br />
Adoke “on the subject of the<br />
transfers of various NNPC<br />
(55%) portion of Oil leases<br />
(OMLs) involved in the Shell<br />
(SPDC) Divestments which impact<br />
crude oil flows in the period.<br />
The AG’s opinion indicated<br />
that these transfers were<br />
within the authority of the minister<br />
to make.”<br />
If this is true, PwC believes<br />
“these assets were validly transferred<br />
to NPDC. The same AG’s<br />
Legal Opinion also indicated<br />
that NPDC was to make payments<br />
for Net Revenue (dividend)<br />
to NNPC, which should<br />
ultimately be remitted to the<br />
Federation Account.”<br />
Some of the limitations encountered<br />
by the auditing firm,<br />
which affected its findings,<br />
were:<br />
•inavailability of NPDC personnel<br />
to provide information<br />
on its processes;<br />
•non-response of NPDC to<br />
request for detailed breakdown<br />
of the crude oil assets transferred<br />
to NPDC;<br />
•volume of allocations to<br />
Strategic Alliance Partners per<br />
partner and list of receiving<br />
banks;<br />
Wale Ajetunmobi and Leke Akeredolu, Akure<br />
He said despite the decision of a High Court<br />
sitting in Akure, that all parties should maintain<br />
the status quo until the substantive suit<br />
is determined, the House went ahead to impeach<br />
the deputy governor.<br />
He said the House of Assembly committed<br />
three infractions to the 1999 Constitution in<br />
the process of removing the deputy governor,<br />
who had travelled out of the country for medical<br />
check-up before the impeachment procedures<br />
started.<br />
He cited the violation of Section 188(2) (b)<br />
of the 1999 Constitution, stipulating that the<br />
Speaker of the House of Assembly “shall,<br />
within seven days of the receipt of the notice<br />
of impeachment, cause a copy of the notice to<br />
be served on the holder of the office and on<br />
each member of the House of Assembly and<br />
Continued on page 60<br />
was seconded by Deputy Majority<br />
Leader Oyebo Aladetan.<br />
Speaker Akindele thereafter<br />
put the motion to the House and<br />
all the 22 lawmakers at the plenary<br />
voted in favour of impeach-<br />
Continued on page 60<br />
‘I’m ready for probe after tenure’<br />
Continued from page 1<br />
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati,<br />
the President said he is not<br />
afraid of any investigation<br />
after leaving office.<br />
He noted that investigations<br />
will not be out of place<br />
since Jonathan’s Administration<br />
also reviewed the actions<br />
of previous governments on<br />
assumption of office.<br />
He said: “As Alhaji Mohammed<br />
threatened in his<br />
statement, the incoming administration<br />
will be perfectly<br />
within its rights to review<br />
all actions of the present government<br />
as it may deem fit.<br />
“We see nothing wrong<br />
with that. After all, the<br />
present Administration reviewed<br />
the actions of previous<br />
governments on assumption<br />
of office with resultant<br />
benefits for policy and project<br />
implementation.”<br />
Abati added that President<br />
Jonathan ordered the immediate<br />
release of the report of<br />
PriceWaterCooper’s investigations<br />
into the alleged unremitted<br />
$20 billion to the Federation<br />
account by the Nigerian<br />
National Petroleum Corporation<br />
(NNPC).<br />
He said: “President<br />
Jonathan is also deeply concerned<br />
by the continuing suggestions<br />
that his administration<br />
still has anything to hide<br />
about the unproven allegation<br />
that about $20billion is<br />
unaccounted for by the<br />
NNPC during his tenure.<br />
“To lay the matter to rest,<br />
President Jonathan in line<br />
with Section 7(2) of the<br />
NNPC Act, has directed that<br />
the full report of the PWC<br />
Forensic Audit of the NNPC<br />
accounts be released immediately<br />
to the public so that<br />
all Nigerians will be properly<br />
informed on the matter.”<br />
Denying the allegations<br />
by Mohammed, Abati said:<br />
“We have noted with concern<br />
the allegation by the<br />
spokesman of the All Progressives<br />
Congress (APC),<br />
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that<br />
officials of the Federal Government<br />
are engaged in<br />
“last minute looting of the<br />
nation’s resources, rushed<br />
privatisation of key institutions<br />
and hurried recruitment<br />
into the public service”.<br />
“We also consider as most<br />
unfortunate and uncharitable,<br />
the suggestion by Alhaji<br />
Mohammed that the<br />
Jonathan Administration is<br />
trying to ‘tie the hands’ of<br />
the incoming government<br />
merely by continuing to discharge<br />
its constitutional responsibilities<br />
until the end<br />
of its tenure.”<br />
“The Jonathan Administration<br />
which continues to<br />
do its best to ensure a<br />
smooth and peaceful handover<br />
of power to the President-elect,<br />
General Muhammadu<br />
Buhari, deeply regrets<br />
the unfairness and<br />
combative frame of mind reflected<br />
in Alhaji Mohammed’s<br />
statement.”<br />
According to him, President<br />
Jonathan has done his<br />
best in the past five years to<br />
discharge his constitutional<br />
responsibilities for good<br />
governance and effective<br />
leadership of the nation.<br />
Abati said: “Without any<br />
prejudice whatsoever to the<br />
freedom of the incoming administration<br />
to do as it pleases,<br />
within the confines of extant<br />
laws when it assumes office,<br />
the Jonathan Administration<br />
will continue to discharge<br />
its responsibility to govern<br />
until May 29, 2015.<br />
“In continuing to fulfil the<br />
obligations of his office however,<br />
President Jonathan has<br />
not, and will never condone<br />
any form of unscrupulous<br />
conduct on the part of state officials.”<br />
He maintained that President<br />
Jonathan will never authorise<br />
any attempt to create<br />
any problems for the incoming<br />
administration, stressing<br />
that the outcome of the March<br />
28 presidential elections does<br />
not imply a cessation of governance.<br />
•account numbers and bank<br />
statements for NPDC crude<br />
proceeds.<br />
“We encountered some limitations<br />
in the course of executing<br />
some aspects of our scope<br />
of work. The key limitations<br />
were: Unavailability of relevant<br />
NPDC personnel to provide information<br />
on the NPDC’s processes<br />
particularly around its<br />
operations, business objectives<br />
and internal accounting/financial<br />
reporting, etc; change of<br />
management at NPDC during<br />
the course of the engagement,<br />
which further contributed to<br />
our inability to successfully obtain<br />
responses to our request for<br />
information; non-response of<br />
NPDC to our request letter,<br />
which meant that we weren’t<br />
provided with the following<br />
requests:<br />
•Detailed breakdown of the<br />
crude oil assets transferred to<br />
NPDC.<br />
•Terms of divestment and<br />
contract documents involving<br />
the assets taken over.<br />
•Strategic Alliance agreements<br />
between NPDC and<br />
counterparties.<br />
•Monthly volume allocations<br />
to Strategic Alliance Partners<br />
per partner.<br />
•Monthly balance of NPDC<br />
crude over-lifts by Strategic Alliance<br />
partners.<br />
•List of receiving banks, account<br />
numbers and bank statements<br />
for NPDC crude proceeds.”<br />
The report added: “We did<br />
not have access to NPDC’s full<br />
accounts and records and we<br />
have not ascertained the<br />
amount of costs and expenses<br />
which should be applied to the<br />
$5.11billion Crude Oil revenue<br />
(net of royalties and PPT paid)<br />
per the NPDC submission to<br />
the Senate Committee which<br />
should be considered as dividend<br />
payment by NPDC to<br />
NNPC for ultimate remittance<br />
to the Federation Account.”<br />
The firm said working with<br />
the documents made available<br />
to it, it established that the gross<br />
revenues generated from Federal<br />
Government’s crude oil liftings<br />
was $69.34bn and not $67<br />
billion as stated by the Reconciliation<br />
Committee for the period<br />
from January 2012 to July<br />
2013.<br />
It also found out that the cash<br />
remitted into the Federation<br />
Accounts in relation to crude oil<br />
liftings was $50.81bn and not<br />
$47b as stated by the Reconciliation<br />
Committee. It said this<br />
amount was arrived at because<br />
“ (Nigerian National Petroleum<br />
Corporation) NNPC has provided<br />
information on the difference<br />
leading to a potential excess<br />
remittance of $0.74 billion<br />
(without considering expected<br />
remittances from NPDC). Other<br />
indirect costs of $2.81billion,<br />
which were not part of the submission<br />
to the Senate Committee<br />
hearing, have been defrayed<br />
to arrive at this<br />
position.”<br />
The report observed that the<br />
“resulting potential excess remittance<br />
indicates that the Corporation<br />
operates an unsustainable<br />
model”.<br />
The report states that “the<br />
Corporation is unable to sustain<br />
monthly remittances to the Federation<br />
Account Allocation<br />
Committee (FAAC), and also<br />
meet its operational costs entirely<br />
from the proceeds of domestic<br />
crude oil revenues, and have<br />
had to incur third party liabilities<br />
to bridge the funding gap.<br />
Furthermore, the review period<br />
recorded international crude oil<br />
prices averaging $122.5 per barrel<br />
(Average Platts prices for<br />
2012). As at the time of concluding<br />
this report, international<br />
crude oil prices average about<br />
$46.07 per barrel, which is about<br />
sixty two percent (62%) reduction<br />
when compared to the<br />
crude oil prices for the review<br />
period. If the NNPC overhead<br />
costs and subsidies are maintained<br />
(assuming crude oil production<br />
volumes are maintained),<br />
the corporation may<br />
have to exhaust all the proceeds<br />
of domestic crude oil sales, and<br />
Continued on page 60<br />
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