Exclusive Footage Of Nigerian CBN Gov. Lamido Sanusi Return To Nigeria A...

WALLOWING IN OUR CESSPIT OF CORRUPTION AND HOLDING ON TO A TATTERED IMAGE ... WE DONT GIVE A DAMN : $20bn Forensic Audit: Okonjo-Iweala Stresses Need For Urgency ... LeadershipNews

The minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy,Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has asked for urgent action with regard to an independent forensic audit of conflicting claims of unaccounted funds made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamdio Sanusi.
In a statement sent to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the minister said, “My position on this has been clear from the start. The ministry of finance’s reconciliation showed a shortfall of $10.8 billion in NNPC remittances to the Federation Account. After this, the conflicting claims continued with new figures such as $20 billion being mentioned.
“So since February 13, I have called for an independent forensic audit.President Goodluck Jonathan, indeed announced last night that there will be an investigation into whether there are any funds missing from NNPC. He also indicated that the correct process needs to be followed in this investigation and I understand that the entity that has the proper authority to initiate such an investigation is the Auditor-General of the Federation,” she said.
“I therefore want to see the truth from an investigation under the auspices of the auditor- general, which in my view should be undertaken as a matter of extreme urgency by independent external auditors,” the minister added.

AS WE LOOK ON HELPLESSLY, OUR CHILDREN ARE WASTED IN THE FACE OF TERROR : How Gunmen Killed 43 Students In Yobe ... LeadershipNews

Boko Haram cowards yesterday killed about 43 innocent students of the Federal Government College (FGC), Buni-Yadi in Gujba local government area of Yobe State.
The blood hounds, who avoid face-to-face combat with military forces, now attack soft targets in remote villages and schools, apparently to make good Nigerians sad.
A source told LEADERSHIP that about 50 gunmen stormed the school, which is a few kilometres away from the state capital Damaturu, killing the students and injuring others.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the gunmen also set some school buildings, cars, classrooms and staff quarters on fire during the attack.
An eyewitness, Mallam Sani Yadi, told our correspondent that the gunmen entered the school around midnight and started shouting on the students and attacking whoever came out.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the attackers shot from different directions while calling on them to remain inside their hostels, with the intention of burning down the dormitories with the students alive.
He said, “They fired shots from different places and killed whoever attempted to escape. That was how they took several innocent lives.”
A survivor, Haruna Kabir, told LEADERSHIP on phone that he heard gunshots from afar and sensed that calamity was befalling the school area. So, he and his friend escaped into the bush.
Spokesman of the state JTF Eli Lazarus confirmed the incident to the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The state commissioner of police, Sanusi Rufai, also confirmed that 40 people were killed, adding that it was not immediately clear if all of the dead were students.
Rufai said that many of the students died in flames as the school was burned to the ground, adding that all the dead were males as no female student was touched.
The state governor, Ibrahim Geidam, during his visit to the scene of the incident, said that the attack was synonymous to last September’s assault on the College of Agriculture, Mamudo, where over 40 students were killed.
Geidam and his Borno State counterpart, Kashim Shettima, have fiercely criticised the military’s record in combatting Boko Haram in the region, insisting that more resources were needed to defeat increasingly well-armed insurgents in the troubled area.
The failure of the military to protect civilians is fuelling anger in the north-east, the region worst affected by the four-and-a-half-year-old insurgency and an offensive ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in May has failed to crush the rebels and triggered reprisals against civilians.

Attackers spared women, told them to go home and get married
A spokesman for a Nigerian governor says soldiers who were guarding a checkpoint near a government school were mysteriously withdrawn from the checkpoint, just hours before an attack yesterday by suspected Islamic extremists.
The attack left at least 29 students dead at a school dormitory.
Officials say female students at the co-ed school were spared — and that the attackers instead told them to go home and get married and to abandon their Western education.
The attackers set a locked dormitory on fire. As students escaped through the windows, they were shot and their throats were slit. Some were burned alive.
The governor’s spokesman says he will be asking questions about why the school was apparently left unprotected.
Nigeria’s military has reported arresting several soldiers accused of aiding and passing information to extremists of the terrorist network Boko Haram (BOH’-koh hah-RAHM’). The nickname means “Western education is forbidden.”
More than 300 civilians have been killed this month in Nigeria in a series of deadly attacks.

You’re deranged fanatics, Jonathan tells Boko Haram
President Jonathan yesterday described members of the Boko Haram sect as “deranged terrorists and fanatics” who have become bereft of “human morality” and as such descended to bestiality” as characterised by their mindless killings of students in Yobe.
In a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, the president extended his “heartfelt condolences to the parents and relatives of the murdered students”.
The statement made available to LEADERSHIP noted: “President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has received with immense sadness and anguish news of the callous and senseless murder by terrorists of scores of students at a college in Yobe State in the early hours of today.
“The president wholly condemns the heinous, brutal and mindless killing of the guiltless students by deranged terrorists and fanatics who have clearly lost all human morality and descended to bestiality. He assures the nation that his administration will not relent in its ongoing efforts to end the scourge of terrorism in parts of the country which has sadly claimed more innocent lives today.
“The armed forces of Nigeria and other security agencies will continue to prosecute the war against terror with full vigour, diligence and determination until the dark cloud of mass murder and destruction of lives and property is permanently removed from our horizon.”

Jonathan’s comments on Borno wrong - APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned President Jonathan’s vituperation against Borno State governor Kashim Shettima during his “Media Chat” on Monday night, calling it unwarranted, un-presidential and petty.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said President Jonathan was wrong to have threatened, no matter how subtly, to withdraw from Borno the troops who are battling against Boko Haram insurgents, and urged him to apologize to the people of Borno and to all Nigerians for the presidential indiscretion.
It said the threat, which was in response to the statement credited to the governor, that the soldiers needed to be better equipped and more motivated, showed clearly that President Jonathan does not have a full grasp of what is expected of him as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
‘’Mr President, your most important duty as president is to ensure the welfare and security of all Nigerians, irrespective of the criticisms you may face or whether or not they voted for you. Therefore, you are not doing anyone a favour by performing that duty. It is the role you swore an oath to perform.
‘’Also, even if you feel that the governor should not have made the statement he made, it is incumbent upon you, as the president and the father of the nation, to take the higher road, instead of choosing a public forum to air your grievances.
Wittingly or unwittingly, Mr President, you have played into the hands of the insurgents who must by now be gloating at the discordant tunes in government over the battle against them,’’ APC said.
According to the statement, the party was justified in its call on the president not to go ahead with his reported plan to remove the governor and replace him with a military administrator. ‘’President Jonathan should know that a leader cannot afford to be taking decisions on the basis of a perceived slight or criticism, because such decisions are most likely to be wrong and counter-productive. He should also use his enormous powers as president for the benefit of the people, not to their disadvantage.
‘’By his threat to pull out the troops from Borno for one month, he has further victimized the good people of the state, who have been at the receiving end of the senseless attacks by Boko Haram. A retraction of his threat and an apology to the people will be a good starting point for Mr President to make amends,’’ APC said.

Boko Haram has taken freedom of religion too far
- Skye Bank chairman
The quest of the Boko Haram insurgency to impose Sharia legal system on Nigeria is an expression of freedom of religion to the extreme which must be stopped at all cost.
The chairman, Skye Bank, Nigeria, Dr Olatunde Ayeni, made this assertion yesterday in Abuja in his keynote address at the on-going African Berlin International Conference (ABIC)/ National Defence College Conference with the theme “Revolts and Change, Individual Freedom and National Security: Africa in the Light of Popular Uprisings”.
Ayeni, who set the tone for the discourse, recalled the ongoing uprising in the Arab World and urged the security operatives to do all it takes to put an end to the Boko Haram insurgency. He argued that the agitation is religious extremism that could destroy the country.
“The outbreak of the Boko Haram insurgency in July 2009 has in no small measure foisted new security challenges on the Nigerian nation, raising critical questions about the real intent of the sect. The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria paints a picture of the freedom of worship or of religion or of association taken too far – almost to a limitless dimension”.
According to him, “There is no known international charter on human rights, not even the UN charter on human rights that guarantees a limitless personal freedom, knowing full well that a man’s rights begins where another man’s right ends. It is indeed foolhardy to contemplate that an individual freedom of worship carried in a manner of sheer violence and rebellion to the state and its national interest, as exhibited over time by the insurgents, should subsume the collective rights of the citizenry. A right that is so crafted and so called is indeed no right at all! No individual freedom is superior to the national interest or the collective rights of the citizenry.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the commandant of the College, Rear Admiral Patrick Agholor, urged the participants “to come up with pragmatic recommendations that could aid policy makers and governments to mitigate some of the daunting development challenges of Africa”.

ROUND PEGS IN ROUND HOLES : Sanusi Sues Jonathan Over Suspension ... LeadershipNews

Suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has dragged President Goodluck Jonathan before a Federal High Court  in Abuja over his suspension from office.
Sanusi was suspended by Jonathan last Thursday over alleged involvement in financial recklessness.
In the suit, the suspended apex bank boss is urging the court to restrain the president, the attorney-general of the federation and the inspector-general of police from giving effect to his purported suspension from office as the governor of the CBN, pending the determination of his suit.
He also asked the court to make an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants from obstructing, disturbing, stopping or preventing him, in any manner whatsoever, from performing the functions of his office as the CBN governor and enjoying in full the statutory powers and privileges attached to the office.
One of the lead lawyers to Sanusi, Chief Kola Awodein (SAN), told the court that his interlocutory application is necessary because of the issues raised in the suit and that delay may likely entail irreparable and serious damage and mischief on him in the exercise of his statutory duties as the CBN governor.
He urged the court to exercise its discretion in his favour by granting the interlocutory injunctions, as the president’s continuing unlawful interference with the management and administration of the apex bank, unless arrested, poses grave danger for Nigeria’s economy and justifies the court granting his application which will result in maintaining the status quo ante bellum, that is, for his return to his office as the governor of the CBN.
In the affidavit deposed in support of his application, the suspended CBN boss averred that, in the course of his duties as the CBN governor, he discovered certain discrepancies in respect of amounts repatriated to the federation account from the proceeds of crude oil sales between the period of January 2012 and July 2013 and that he expressed concern in respect of the said discrepancies and had cause to inform the National Assembly of the said discrepancies because they affect the revenue of the federation and the national economy.
He further stated that the actions of President Jonathan, in purporting to suspend him from office, are aimed at punishing him for these disclosures.
He also stated that he is challenging the president’s power to suspend him from office, noting that the president did not approach nor obtain the support of the Senate, based on his discussions with several senators including Senator Bukola Saraki.
“I have been informed, and I verily believe the information given to me by Senator Bukola Saraki to be true and correct, that the Senate did not give the president any support for my purported suspension and removal from office as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Sanusi further stated that the actions of the president in suspending him from office is contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act relating to the appointment and removal of the CBN governor and that his purported suspension amounts to unlawful interference in the administration and management of the apex bank and is illegal, null and void. He urged the court to, in the interest of justice, grant his reliefs.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit while the matter, which was filed yesterday afternoon, is yet to be assigned to a judge.

MEDICINE AFTER DEATH : Boko Haram: Jonathan Moves to Suspend Gov Shettima, Military Administrator to Oversee Borno ... SundayTrust

By Sunday Trust
Governor Kashim Shettima is to be suspended from office early this week and replaced by a Military Administrator as part of plans by the Federal Government to launch a decisive military offensive against Boko Haram insurgents, Sunday Trust learnt from authoritative sources in Abuja at the weekend.
Members of the Borno State House of Assembly are also to proceed on suspension to enable the Military Administrator to exercise full executive and legislative powers. President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to announce the sudden move on Wednesday when he swears in 11 new ministers, including Lt General Aliyu Mohamed Gusau, who is expected to take over as Defence Minister.
Sources told Sunday Trust that the Presidency has already identified a retired Army General that it intends to appoint as the Military Administrator of Borno State. According to the sources, the Presidency believes that placing a soldier in charge of the state government will send a signal to the recalcitrant insurgents and also give impetus to the highly stepped up military effort that it is planning in the wake of deadly attacks on several Borno communities by the insurgents in recent weeks.
It was not immediately clear if the presidency’s planned move is meant to punish Governor Kashim Shettima, who had a sharp exchange with it last week over handling of the war against Boko Haram. Emerging from a private meeting with the president, Shettima told reporters that the insurgents were often better armed and better motivated than the army in the ongoing war. Jonathan’s senior special assistant for public affairs, Doyin Okupe, replied the next day, saying Shettima’s claim was not true, that the governor is too inexperienced to know about weapons and that the military is winning the war against Boko Haram. Shettima, however, visited the State House again last Thursday and had another private meeting with Jonathan, where observers thought they had resolved their differences. Sources said Jonathan invited Shettima to the meeting after last Wednesday’s renewed Boko Haram attack on Bama town.
Sunday Trust learnt that the move to suspend democratic structures in Borno State was recently revived following a similar attempt last May, when Jonathan first declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. His proposal to suspend governors and state legislators in the affected states was vehemently opposed by the National Assembly, lawyers and civil society groups. They pointed out that a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Atiku versus Obasanjo made it clear that a governor, deputy governor, vice president or a president can only lose his position in one of four ways. These are death, permanent incapacitation, resignation and impeachment. A parallel move by Jonathan to seize the financial allocations of the three states and commandeer it to fund military operations was also thwarted by the House of Representatives, which deleted it from the gazette emergency notice issued by the president.
Contacted for his comments yesterday, Shettima’s spokesman Isa Umar Gusau said he was “surprised to hear that the federal government may be contemplating such an illegal, unjustified, unconstitutional and highly controversial move that will heat up the polity and endanger this country’s democracy.” He said his boss is a very calm, extremely patient person, who is not given to muckraking or unguarded utterances. He said “what the governor said was a product of long observation, a welter of information from persons at the receiving end of the attacks and also careful reflection. The view is shared by all elders and community leaders in the state. It was not meant to embarrass anyone but to alert Nigerians to the danger we all face and to seek the support of all citizens towards overcoming it.”
Gusau also said, “If the reason for the alleged move is in order to win greater support for the military in this battle, I doubt if anyone else can do what Governor Shettima has done and is still doing by way of assisting the security operations and also by bringing quick relief to victims of insurgent attacks, including the widows and families of security agents.” He said the Borno State Government under Shettima has provided vehicles, allowances, fuel and other equipment worth hundreds of millions over the years to the military and other agencies fighting Boko Haram.
In addition, he said, Shettima paid over N200m to families of soldiers killed in operations as well as provided hundreds of millions of naira as relief to families of civilians killed by insurgents.
The governor, he said, promptly visits communities attacked by insurgents and arranges immediate relief and resettlement. This is necessary in order to build up public confidence in security operations and maintain popular backing for the military operations, he said.
Contacted for comments yesterday, President Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati told our reporter that he was not aware of any such moves by government.
“I’m not aware of such a plan,” Dr Abati said. “We’ve just returned from Owerri, Imo State, where the president received politicians who have joined the PDP. Why not call the military authorities to confirm that to you. As you know, the constitution is very clear on how a governor could be replaced. I cannot confirm anything to you on this issue.”
Meanwhile, constitutional lawyers spoken to yesterday described the planned move by the Presidency as illegal and unconstitutional.
A constitutional lawyer and executive director of the Human Rights Monitor, Barrister Festus Okoye, said removing a state governor and dissolving the state assembly will amount to ‘constitutional aberration’ capable of affecting the 2015 polls and giving the fight against insurgency ‘an unwarranted political colouration.’
He said the state of emergency that was declared in accordance with Section 305(1) of the constitution and published in Federal Government’s Gazette, after its approval by the National Assembly, did not provide for dissolution of any of the states’ democratic structures.
“The details of the proclamation do not include the removal of the governor and the dissolution of the House of Assembly and other elected democratic structures. It is a constitutional aberration to declare and (or) assume that a state of emergency must of necessity extinguish democratic structures or lead to their dissolution or suspension. The governor and the state assemblies are elected and the conditions for their removal or suspension are also constitutionally spelt out,” he said.
“The governors of the affected states have displayed uncommon courage in the face of the massive onslaught by the insurgents. The security agencies have been doing their own bit. The missing link in the fight against insurgency is in the area of intelligence gathering, analysis and implementation. There is also an imagination deficit in the approach to the challenge of insurgency.
“Any approach to tackling insurgency that does not creatively factor the local population into the solution will not achieve the desired result. The Nigerian people must bond together and tackle the challenge of insurgency.
“The dissolution of democratic structures in any of the states will put an undeserved strain on the 2015 elections and give the fight against insurgency an unwarranted political coloration. The dissolution will be unconstitutional and will polarize the National Assembly. I do not see the National Assembly approving the amendment to the details and when such is defeated in the National Assembly it may demoralize the armed forces. As we move towards the 2015 elections, we must avoid constitutional impunity that will put an undeserved strain on our fragile constitutional democracy,” he said.
Also, human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN, said Governor Shettima cannot be held responsible for the seeming successes being recorded by the dreaded Boko Haram troops in the North East.
Falana, who stated this in a telephone interview with Sunday Trust yesterday, said that no Military Administrator can fight the Boko Haram when army commanders have failed to conquer the insurgent group.
The senior lawyer said it was because of the illegality of the arrangement that President Jonathan could not appoint Military Administrators when he declared state of emergency in three states in the North-East zone last year.
“It was because of the illegality of the proposition that the president could not appoint Military Administrators (MILADS) for those three states when he declared a state of emergency last year. Since the constitution has not been amended to empower the president and the NASS to remove an elected governor, there are no bases to remove the Borno State governor. If anybody has to take responsibility for the worsening security situation and for the crisis in Borno State and the North-East, so far, it is the president who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and not the governor, who is a glorified chief security officer of the state.
“In fairness to Jonathan he has repeatedly assured Nigerians that the situation is under control and that the FG is winning the war against terror. The unarmed governor of Borno State cannot be held vicariously liable for the seeming success being recorded by the Boko Haram fighters, who appear more armed than Nigerian soldiers and have resorted to guerilla warfare, which is very alien to the Nigerian armed forces.
“Instead of resorting to any diversionary tactic, FG should go back to the drawing table by motivating the soldiers and equipping them with modern weapons as well as improvement of the intelligence gathering,” Falana said.

FOR THE RECORDS .. MEIN KAMPF (My Struggle) : My story, by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi ... VanguardNews

In the beginning
As at the time I came into office, several things had collapsed. From banks to stock exchange, they had crashed. Inflation was at 15.6percent three months before I became Central Bank Governor; there was already instability in every sector of the economy. When I look back, I thank God for the people who supported us and criticized us as well because criticism has made us stronger. Also, when I look back, I can point to several things that have changed after our arrival and till date.
Keeping inflation down
For the first time in a long while, we have been able to keep inflation at about 7percent since January 2013 and it is still like that up till this moment. As far as instability and exchange rate is concerned, we have worked tirelessly to ensure things work out well for the economy.
We also introduced cash reduction in the system. Although most people didn’t like it because they felt it will add more problem to the exchange rate because people want to buy dollars but against all odds, the cashless policy has worked and it’s still working today.

*Sanusi

On the face-off between CBN and NNPC
On the face-off between CBN and NNPC, I must say that we are not EFCC. What I have been talking about is the areas that affect my job which have been a dwindling in the money that comes into the Federation Account. Let me make it clear, the disputed $20billion may be gone. And what some people want is the continuity of this; that stealing of public funds should continue.
On his suspension
I must say that there was no time when the CBN received any letter from the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria. At no point were we given any letter to respond to over any financial allegations. Also, nothing in the letter declared that I did anything wrong. I can tell you that CBN does not operate the way it’s been presented because all facts and statements of account are there for everybody to see. They said we spent N1.2billion on the police – even if that is true, is that corruption? Did I set up my security outfit and pay myself?  I want to repeat that I have had my last day in office. I have achieved everything I set out to achieve. Looking at the suspension letter, I was not given the benefit of doubt to respond or explain myself.
Court order
However, I have a court order now enforcing my fundamental human right because once they seize your passport, you don’t know the next step they will take. I took an exparte motion to court to ensure I am not harassed.
On the allegation that he is partisan
When I was in King’s College, I was in Form 2 when Bukola Saraki came into Form 1. He has been my friend since we were 11years old. Also, El- Rufai has been my friend. I never knew I will be CBN Governor because I had wanted to study law, also Bukola Saraki never knew he would become a politician because he read medicine. These people remain my friends and, with all sincerity, every one of us has friends across political divides. These are things some Nigerians categorize and accuse me of being a politician. Also, I had known Governor Fashola and Bola Tinubu since I was in First Bank. I am a Lagos boy as well and my children were all given birth to and groomed in Lagos. When Nasir El- Rufai heard what happened, he decided to come to the Lagos airport so that if I am going to be arrested, it will be in the company of some of my friends. He never came to the airport as an APC member but as a friend. I am not a politician but people think I am one.
What next on NNPC
It is not my responsibility anymore but I can comment as a Nigerian. I can talk if I feel like. I believe nobody will challenge me that I did not speak out when I was supposed to as CBN Governor. If the next CBN Governor wants to pursue the missing funds matter or the National Assembly wants to go ahead, they are free of do so. Can you imagine a sitting Minister on national television saying they spent money without appropriation. In any other country, such minister has sacked herself. To  me, that is not financial recklessness.
Let me simply ask, if the Nigerian Constitution says don’t spend money without appropriation or says don’t pay subsidy and the Minister went ahead to pay, is it not a political problem? Technical problem is what we deal with at CBN, we deal with CRR and other issues.
In this kind of situation of investigation going on, you are supposed to either keep quiet as a wise man or walk away. But as you can see, I am not a wise man.
Donation of 100million
It is called principle of donation. During the Ikeja bomb blast explosion, the CBN Governor then, Joseph Sanusi, gave N10million. So I was not the first person to do that. This is contained under Corporate Social Responsibility. The blast in Kano did not affect  Kano citizens alone, SSS offices, police stations were attacked and these are federal offices which have several people from the South working there. I can tell you that 80percent of the victims of that bomb attack are not Kano citizens, there were several Christians from the South involved and I gave N100million to their families. What is bad in that? Why are people not complaining  about the N500million I compelled the Bankers Committee to give to flood victims in Benue State and other places? What is wrong in it? With CSR, you cannot do everything in all the 36states of the federation; you will do the little you can.
Mint printing!
This is one area that we have been able to cut down on spending. In 2012, CBN spent N38billion on mint printing down from the N49billion spent in 2011. In 2013, we spent N35billion and, in my 2014 budget, my plan was to spend N30billion. So we have been bringing down the cost of printing.
Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of the CBN, we contribute 80percent into the Federation Account. In 2008 before I became Governor, CBN contributed N8billion into the Federation Account. In my last year, we gave N159billion. In 2012, we gave N80billion, in 2011, we gave N60billion. In the first four years of my term as CBN Governor, we gave government about N279billion. The National Assembly called  to commend me. We have been able to give N600billion from surplus alone and the money is made from prudent finance, cutting down currency expenses, every over headline has gone down. So I can say, with all sense of humility, that the last thing anybody can accuse me of is financial recklessness.

OF CORRUPTION AND PRESIDENTIAL BODY LANGUAGE ... WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN DESPITE THESE WEIGHTY MATTERS : Ribadu commitee exposes how presidency, NNPC spend oil revenues as slush funds .... PremiumTimes

The Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force has detailed how the Nigerian government and national oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, treat huge oil revenues accruing to the federation as a reserve of money that could be used for illicit purposes without accountability.
In its 178-page report, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES last night, the committee revealed how oil money in the custody of the NNPC were spent on extra-budgetary purposes such as the acquisition of a N2.23billion chopper for the president and a purported sponsorship of the World Cup.
In what appears a brazen misuse of public funds, the NNPC also gave out N700.5million in loan to Sao Tome & Principe based on instruction from the presidency. It also made a curious payment of N2.421billion to a foreign company, Royal Swaziland Sugar Company. The reason for the payment is unclear.
The Corporation also claimed to have underwritten a N521million expenses incurred by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources. This is in addition to the N250million the agency told the committee it spent on court cases involving the ministry.
The ministry has its own budgetary allocation and it is unclear why the NNPC is paying for its expenses. The nature of some of the expenses are also unclear.
The committee also found that the NNPC was being used as illegal lender to presidential committees, ministries and parastatals. For instance the corporation claimed it incurred about N20billion on the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security, based on instruction from the presidency.
The Ribadu committee also determined that about $1billion in signature bonuses, discrepancies in payment by the NNPC, and debts from oil companies were unaccounted for by the NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources.
Find table of missing money as documented by the Ribadu committee below.

Download full report of the committee below.


www.premiumtimesng.com/docs_download/Report_of_the_Ribadu_led_Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force 2012.pdf

 
 
Excerpts of the report
“…Theft of crude oil and refined petroleum products may be reaching emergency levels in Nigeria. The Task Force has received reports suggesting that volumes stolen have risen dramatically in the past 12-18 months. The Royal Dutch Shell Company, Shell in its presentation to the Task Force stated that an estimated 150,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen per day (about 6% of Nigeria’s total annual production) causing a revenue loss of $13.5 million per day (at $100 per barrel) which amounts to $5billion per year of lost revenue.
On the other hand, high ranking Officials and Executives in the Federal Government tasked with the management of the nation’s strategic Oil and Gas assets have several times stated the existence of large-scale on-going theft of Nigeria’s crude oil. This represents government acknowledgment of the magnitude of the loss. Mr. Leke Oyewole, a Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Maritime Affairs, disclosed to the media in March, 2012 that Nigeria loses about 40 million metric tonnes of petroleum products amounting to about $20 billion (N3 trillion) to crude oil theft and illegal bunkering; while NNPC has publicly stated that it spent $1.2billion in the last ten years on pipeline repairs.
Further to the above, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources had also stated at a media briefing in May, 2012 that the country was losing about $7billion annually to crude oil theft in Nigeria, at the rate of 180,000 barrels per day. Indeed, President Goodluck Jonathan has acknowledged the scale and seriousness of crude oil theft in Nigeria as being incomparable to anywhere else in the world, describing the occurrence as being cancerous to the nation’s economy.
The Ministry of Finance has taken a middle ground, stating theft claimed 17 percent of daily production nationwide in April. Overall, estimates of crude oil stolen or spilled reviewed by the Task Force ranged from 6 to 30 percent of production, with 35 percent claimed for one especially troubled area. Based on these estimates, the Task Force believes Nigeria could be losing over N1tn per year to crude oil theft.
The Task Force does not endorse any of the numbers it received as solely authoritative. The bases for many were unclear, and the decentralized, secretive nature of oil theft makes it difficult for any one party to know the full extent of losses. There is a lack of consensus on the actual loss, naturally public records are not satisfactory in this regard but it could actually be as high as 250,000 barrels per day closer to 10% of daily productions.
However, submissions to the Task Force on oil theft suggest that the problem needs immediate attention.
NNPC and oil company data shows dramatic recent rises in theft and sabotage. For example, Shell claims it found at least 50 tap points on its 90km Nembe trunk line in January 2011 alone. Shell submissions to the Task Force showed average total losses in its operational areas climbing from 10,000bpd in late 2009 to over 50,000bpd in March 2012. Chevron reports 29 tap points for the year so far, and claims volumes lost from its operations in Q1 2012 exceeded losses for all of 2011. The NNPC put its total losses from 2009 to Q1 2012 at over 20mn barrels.
It appears small-scale theft and illegal refining are also becoming more decentralized and wide spread, though losses from such practices remain relatively small compared with the more sophisticated large-scale theft rings. In one striking example of rising costs, NNPC data shows the value of stolen crude along the 60km Forcados-Warri refinery supply pipeline was 600 percent higher in 2011 than in 2010. Total losses were N60 billion from this pipeline alone’ or N1bn of oil stolen per km of pipeline.
These incidences of crude theft also delay realization of revenues by deferring production. Shell has declared force majeure on onshore liftings five times since early 2011, all reportedly linked to illegal bunkering. One December 2011 stoppage, allegedly caused by two failed pipeline taps, took a month to fix and deferred over 4 million barrels. Damage to infrastructure also causes long-term production deferments. Government data shows dozens of fields sabotaged before the amnesty still sit idle. Shell’s onshore output’ currently around 600,000bpd’ is barely half of 2005 levels. In Delta State, Chevron still produces one third less oil than it did in 2008…”

MEDICINE AFTER DEATH ... SO THIS MONEY IS INDEED MISSING? : Jonathan meets NNPC chiefs over missing funds ... PunchNews

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday met top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in a meeting behind closed-door inside the Presidential Villa.

A source said the meeting, which was also attended by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was over the alleged missing $20bn crude oil sales proceeds.

Makarfi’s committee is currently investigating the issue.

The senator, however, left the venue of the meeting before others and refused to speak with journalists.

The NNPC delegation was led by its Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu.

Meanwhile, the President has approved the appointment of Mr. Farouk Ahmed as the Executive Secretary  of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

The appointment, which takes immediate effect, was announced in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Ahmed takes over from the incumbent, Mr. Reginald Stanley, who is retiring after 35 years in service.

The incoming executive secretary, who is from Sokoto State, is currently the Managing Director, Nidas Marine Limited, a subsidiary of the NNPC.

He comes to his new job at the PPPRA with over 28 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and a sound commercial and trading background, having held senior positions in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry, including Manager, Crude Oil Programming, Nominations, Shipping and Terminals.

Ahmed had also served as Executive Director (Commercial), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited.

Jonathan thanked Stanley for what he described as his meritorious service to the nation and wished him well in his future endeavours.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES : Boko Haram leader vows to kill elder statesmen, others in new video ... VanguardNews

THE leader of the extremist Boko Haram sect,  Abubakar Shekau, has, in a video released to journalists, threatened more attacks against Nigeria, saying his members would target Nigeria’s sources of revenue, and her refineries.

Shekau, who is wanted for terrorism by both Nigeria and the U.S., also vowed to kill major Islamic clerics and people that support democracy,  western education, and Christianity.
He said the state of emergency currently in place in Adamawa. Borno, and Yobe, could not deter his group, and called on his members in other states, particularly Kano, to attack civilians and government institutions.
The Boko Haram sect is responsible for killing thousands of people, largely civilians, since their insurrection began in Northern Nigeria in 2009. Over 200 Borno villagers have been killed in the last two weeks by the outlawed sect. The group is, however, yet to carry out any attack in the 17 Southern States.The Nigerian military had said Mr. Shekau could have been killed in a military raid last year.
He has released at least two videos since then.
The full text of his 28-minute video, delivered in Hausa, reads;
“My brethren…you should hold on to your weapons and continue fighting. Let them understand that our work is not confined to Yobe, Borno and Adamawa (states).
Make them understand that we are not restricted by emergency rule. They should understand we are under the canopy of Allah.
“This is the beginning. Yes, this is the beginning. “We Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad are fighting Christians wherever we meet them and those who believe in democracy, those who pursue Western education wherever we meet them.
By Allah, we will kill whoever practices Democracy. “And you the infidels of Rivers State, Niger (Delta), the town of Jonathan, Shekau is talking to you (sounds of gunshots). Shekau is talking to you, that small boy that has become the nightmare of infidels is talking to you.
“Oh you the leader of the Niger Delta, you will soon see your refinery destroyed. You will in the incoming days see your refinery you are boasting about bombed. Our refinery is Allah.
“Niger-Delta you are in trouble. Jonathan you are in trouble…Ban ki-Moon you are in trouble, Bejamin Netanyahu you are in trouble, Queen Elizabeth, you are in trouble, Babangida, Kwankwaso, Shekarau, Kashim, Buhari, you are in trouble. “Yahaya Jingir…the cleric of Jos, the advocate of ‘Boko Halal’, right? We are Boko Haram, you are Boko Halal. You will see, bastard.
“We killed Albani of Zaria. We killed Albani of Zaria. Shekau killed Albani of Zaria.Tomorrow  he will kill Jingir, the  day after tomorrow  he will kill Dapchia, the next day he will kill Wapchama, next he will kill Shehu of Borno, Ado Bayero. We rebel against you, between us and you is enmity and rancour until you believe only in Allah.
“The reason why I will kill you is you are infidels, you follow Democracy…Whoever follows Democracy is an infidel. This is Shekau, this is why I’m in enmity with you.
“Buhari is an infidel, Babangida is an infidel, Atiku is an infidel, late Yar’Adua was an infidel, Shehu of Borno is an infidel. You are all infidels. What makes you infidels is Democracy and constitution and western education…I therefore call on brethren in Kano to rise up and replicate the Baga attack.
“All these infidels we are the ones killing them. We enjoy shedding their blood. “The Koran must be supreme, we must establish Islam in this country; Not only in Borno, we will henceforth destroy any schools wherever we see them.”