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April 14, 2023
According to a source, the NNPCL top officials made the move over the fear of being retired compulsorily by the incoming government of Bola Tinubu.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya have jetted out to Saudi Arabia in a bid to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, SaharaReporters has gathered.
This comes amid a probe of NNPCL by the lawmakers and corruption allegations against the duo.
SaharaReporters gathered that both Kyari and Ajiya arrived at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina on Wednesday in a private jet marked M-ALEN. It later left for King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, also in Saudi Arabia a few hours after.
The private jet is owned by businessman and boss of Sahara Energy, Tope Shonubi.
According to multiple sources, though, the top NNPC officials flew out of Nigeria in the guise of performing lesser hajj (Umrah), they are in the Islamic country to ‘lobby’ an appointment with President Buhari.
The President on Tuesday travelled to Saudi Arabia on an official visit.
Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson had said the trip which would last for eight days is Buhari’s last visit to the kingdom as president.
“Amid the $2.4 billion stolen crude oil scam by the House of Representatives, N20 billion Naira consultancy payment scam exposed by SaharaReporters, multi-billion-naira gratuity payment scam and multiple petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission, Kyari and Ajiya have jetted off to Saudi Arabia to lobby President Buhari.
‘They also plan to meet with the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu but I doubt if Tinubu would be coming to Saudi Arabia,” a source told SaharaReporters.
“They left in disguise to perform lesser hajj (Umrah). They both flew out of the country on the 12th of April on a private jet Embraer Legacy 650 Jet with registration number M-ALEN owned by Tope Shonubi, the Managing Director of Sahara Energy Limited.
“We, NNPC staff members, are demoralised and frustrated by the way Kyari and Ajiya are running the company.”
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how Kyari and Ajiya paid themselves billions of naira as gratuities.
According to a source, the NNPCL top officials made the move over the fear of being retired compulsorily by the incoming government of Bola Tinubu.
Sequel to his ‘victory’ in the February 25 presidential poll, Tinubu would be sworn in as president on May 29, 2023, to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari who is finishing his second term in office.
“Isn’t this corruption? Our Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari and the Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya paid themselves gratuity running into billions of naira while still in active service which is against the public service rules,” the source had said.
“With the petroleum industry act that was passed by the National Assembly, NNPC transited into a limited liability company with share capital for more transparency and accountability and to be a profit-driven organization. But unfortunately, under Kyari and Ajiya, the reverse is the case.
“The fear that they may be sacked or asked to go on retirement suddenly made these two individuals to pay themselves humongous gratuity while still in active service. They are both running NNPC as their personal company because nobody is checkmating the both of them.”
The source added that the PIA Act gives the Group CEO and CFO enormous powers without recourse to the President since there is a constituted board of NNPC.
However, the board is said to lack the power to oversee NNPC administrative duties.
“The PIA Act has created a lacuna by giving the group CEO and CFO enormous powers to run the organisation without recourse to the President. Same Umar Ajiya retired from NLNG before joining NNPC, guess what? He was paid gratuity in NLNG and now he has paid himself another gratuity which is against the public service law while still in active service with the corporation,” a source had said.
Garba Deen Muhammad, Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL in a statement confirmed the payment of gratuities to the duo.
He, however, said they were paid for their services to “NNPC and not NNPCL.”
Recently, the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Theft announced its plan to investigate the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export.
The committee subsequently summoned the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed; Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okolieaboh; and representatives of the NNPCL, among others.
SaharaReporters reported in December 2022 that Nigeria's lower legislative chamber constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate a whistle-blower’s allegation of the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude in China in 2015 and the insurance status of the cargo.
It was also tasked to investigate all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 to date, with regards to quantity, insurance, revenue generated, remittances into the federation account or other accounts as well as utilisation of the revenue for the period under review.
The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
These resolutions followed the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member of the House, Ibrahim Isiaka, titled, “Alleged Loss of over $2.4 Billion in Revenue from Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Export in 2015, Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 till Date.”
A report by the Nigerian Senate recently revealed that the NNPC failed to account for the delivery of crude oil amounting to N102 billion to Warri and Kaduna refineries.
SaharaReporters on April 2, 2023, reported how the Ogun State government also dragged NNPC to court over unpaid tax liabilities running into N9 billion.
There were also allegations of outright theft by the staff of the defunct Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), who allegedly paid a total sum of N1 billion to its consultant, Messres Safaya, as part of the money she helped them to save on the tax refund demands by the Ogun State government.
Following the transition of the PPMC, there is the NNPC retail which is for filling station owners and retailers and NNPC trucking, which is for vessels tank farms and others.
However, the state government noted that it was surprised that nothing was paid to it, but NNPC paid itself to the tune of over a billion naira.
It was alleged that Messres Safaya was paid over N1 billion as 10 per cent consultancy fee but no document shows that the Ogun state government was paid a dime.
A staff member of the corporation who was not happy with the alleged fraud that was committed by the defunct staff members of the corporation cited instances of direct theft by the staff of the defunct PPMC. The staff member alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was turning a blind eye to the “massive fraud going on in NNPC because most of the principal actors involved are their people”.
The source alleged that most of the payments to the consultants were being shared by the management of the defunct PPMC.
He challenged the EFCC officials to look at the accounts of the consultants hired by the management of the PPMC and see how the money was distributed.
On how much he thought was paid to consultants from his office, he said he could say categorically that over N20 billion was stolen under the pretext of paying ghost consultants they hired.
However, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC denied the fraud allegations, saying the company did not have or deal with ghost consultants.
He added that the “process of engaging consultants whenever the need arises is clear and verifiable and follows global best practices”.