Chief Emami writes President Buhari first open letter

                                                                                                          June 16, 2015

Open Letter To President Muhammadu Buhari On The Need To Investigate “The Fraudulent Allocation Of Oil Mining Leases, OML, Deliberate Exclusion Of Indigenous Rights To Preemption And/ Or First Refusal And Breach Of Open As Well As Competitive Bidding Practice In OML 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42 Respectively”

Your Excellency, the inaction of the 7^th National Assembly on the aforestated subject matter in petition dated April 23, 2013, the worsening economic situation in the Niger Delta, nay Delta State vis-a-vis the integrity driven policy of your administration, backed by the boisterous 8^th National Assembly dominated by the All Progressives Congress, APC, have made it extremely necessary to draw your attention to the apparent illegality ignored by the previous administration.

Sir, you will recall the frustration Nigerians went through recently during the industrial action embarked upon by NUPENG and PENGASSAN across the country as a result of the formal controversial sale of Shell Petroleum Development Company’s stakes in OML 42 to Neconde Energy Limited, owned by Anambra State born Ernest Azudialu. The painful truth is that the whole mess would have been avoided if the previous administration, particularly the 7^th National Assembly had investigated the petition instituted by key stakeholders’ cutting across Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko and Ndokwa in Delta State Oil Producing Communities. But they declined our request for reasons not clear till date and the controversial oil blocs sale was swept under the carpet.

To refresh our memory, despite the fact that the last administration ordered that the Oil Mining Leases, OML 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42 be thrown open for bidding by interested companies, the relevant authorities, especially the Federal Ministry of Petroleum flagrantly disobeyed the directive and surreptitiously granted the leases to non-indigenes against the Local Content Act or rights of preemption and /or first refusal by people of the host communities, who had the financial/technical capability to acquire them.

Your Excellency, apart from the fact that Mr. Jide Omokore Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited neither tendered nor bid for the bloc, the company only paid upfront cash payment of little more than $ 50 million initial entrance fee, for a lease that should ordinarily cost no less than $ 800 million.

It must be noted that the aforesaid awards aside violating Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act, also violates industry guidelines, which demands that allocation of oil blocs and the award of service contracts shall be based on an open competitive bidding process to allow every investor, indigenous or foreign, equal opportunity to explore and develop Nigeria’s Petroleum Resources.

Interestingly, in September, 2010, the then Minister of Petroleum entered into a service contract with Seplat Energy International Limited, through its Nigerian subsidiary, Mr. Kolawole Aluko’s Septa Energy Nigeria Limited in respect of OML 4, 38 and 41. Curiously the Septa Energy’s Managing Director, Mr. Kolawole Aluko is a Director in VistaJet.

Sir, in the light of all the above, I on behalf of the Oil Producing Communities of Delta State seek begging answers to the following:

a.    Why did NNPC transfer its stakes in the OMLs to NPDC (a subsidiary) contrary to the Privatization Policy of Government?

b.    Why did NPDC transfer the stakes granted to it by NNPC in the OMLs to another set of companies without open bidding process?

c.    Can SPDC sell its stakes in the OMLs without recourse to the Petroleum Act?

d.    Why did the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deiziani Allison-Madueke enter into secretive Oil Blocs Operatorship Contract without regard for the open and competitive bid practice mandated by the Public Procurement Act?

e.    Why did the immediate past Minister of Petroleum furtively approve Oil blocs’ rights to companies without due process?

f.     What is the yardstick for regulating the discretional allocation of Nigeria’s National Oil and Gas assets?

g.    How does these ridiculous undervalued secretive allocations of Nigeria’s most lucrative Oil and Gas assets support or strengthen Nigeria’s economic and political integrity?

h.    Why were companies which have interests in each other, such as, Seven Energy, Septa Energy, Seplat Energy and Atlantic Energy favoured so much in the award of rights in OML 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42, and why did the former Minister of Petroleum violate industry guidelines and the Procurement Act to favour these companies?

i.      How many companies did the former Minister of Petroleum approve Strategic Alliance Agreements with NPDC to develop OPLs and OMLs?

Mr. President, permit me to use this opportunity to request that you detail credible Nigerians in your administration to visit infrastructural facilities divested by SPDC to NPDC in Warri, Delta State to enable you have a clear understanding of the monumental decay and waste of the multi billion naira edifices hitherto used as corporate offices by SPDC. It may interest you to know that the massive infrastructures surprisingly abandoned by NPDC in Warri include Ultra Modern Office Complex, Airstrip, Well Equipped Hospital, Standard School, Housing Estate, Sporting Facilities and a host of other valuable capital projects.

One therefore wonders the rationale behind NPDC abandoning the multi billion naira up-to-date infrastructures inherited from SPDC in Warri, Delta State to embark on similar project in neighbouring Benin City, Edo State, at a time when Our Nation’s economy is going through a hard time and the divested OMLs is in Delta State. Sir, the action of those at the helm of affairs in NPDC seems to suggest selfish or pecuniary motive contrary to your administration’s zero tolerance for corruption and wastage. It must be noted that the decision of NPDC officials to embark on this wasteful voyage is capable of worsening the unemployment rate, crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism not just in Delta State, but the entire length and breadth of the Niger Delta.

Mr. President, I am prepared to provide more information on the in-activities of the said companies who were allocated the running of the OMLs in various Delta communities, as the said companies do not have the manpower or technical knowhow to operate, let alone utilize the huge infrastructures wallowing away in Warri, Delta State.

Sir, I sincerely look forward to your honest and prompt attention to the illegality/injustice meted out to people of the oil producing communities in Delta State with a view to rewriting the wrong and putting a stop to the wasteful as well as unnecessary duplication of multi billion naira infrastructural projects.

Thanks in anticipation.

Chief Ayirimi Emami

Ajuwaoyiboyanmi A.K.A Akulagba of Warri

Cc:

The Senate President

Speaker of the House of Representatives

The Ministry of Petroleum

The National Security Adviser

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