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Real Reasons Why President Buhari Appointed Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as the GMD of NNPC …. + A-Z Of Him

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6 years ago

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The appointment of Kachikwu may not have come to many as a surprise, considering that President Buhari had promised to beam his search light on the NNPC which has a reputation for high level of corruption.

Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the newly appointed Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), yesterday assumed duty as the Group Managing Director at a brief handover ceremony held at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.  Until his appointment, Kachikwu was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon Mobil (Africa).

The new helmsman expressed gratitude to his predecessor, Dr. Joseph T. Dawha, for his hard work in holding the NNPC, while pledging to work assiduously in achieving the president’s growth aspiration for the oil and gas industry.

The appointment of Kachikwu may not have come to many as a surprise, considering that President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to beam his search light on the NNPC, which has a reputation for high level of corruption. President Buhari, prior to his inauguration as the President, had promised to carry out an overhaul of the corporation’s activities, while bringing all culprits to book.

Kachikwu, is taking over the affairs of the troubled NNPC at a time the global oil industry is grappling with low crude oil prices.

How Kachikwu emerged

Daily Sun learnt that three people were pencilled down for the job of NNPC GMD. They are Isa Inua, Deputy Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural gas (LNG); Musa Kida of Total Worldwide and Kachikwu.

Sources revealed that although President Buhari found the three nominees qualified and capable of handling the affairs of the NNPC, he apparently picked Kachikwu as the southerner among the three.

Kachikwu is one of the few southerners the Buhari administration has appointed to executive position since May 29. In the last two months, most of the appointments have favoured the North.

Why Joseph Dawha-led management was sacked

The high level of corruption in the NNPC may have led to the sack of the management, especially as it relates to the crude oil swap deal, involving thousands of  barels of crude oil that remained unaccounted for.

An independent investigative analysis submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed that over $32 billion oil revenue was lost to NNPC’s mismanagement of Domestic Crude Allocation (DCA), opaque revenue retention practices and corruption-ridden oil-for-product swap agreements.

Also, the sack of Dawha and hiring of Kachikwu is in line with Buhari’s plan to bring a breath of fresh air into the NNPC. The president, it was gathered, does not want anybody who was part of the system for fear that the person may have been corrupted.

Moreso, in keeping with his promise of sanitising the sector, the coming on board of Kachikwu, may have been informed by his private sector background, as Buhari wants NNP to run as a business entity, with every sense of responsibility. His ascension to the mantle of leadership of NNPC is expected to turn the fortunes of the troubled NNPC around.

Task before new NNPC GMD

Kachikwu will be confronted with a plethora of problems, the deadliest of which is the oil industry cabal that would ensure that all his reforms are frustrated. Others are pipeline vandals, the ailing refineries, fuel subsidy and  funding of JV operations, among others

Pipeline Vandalism

Pipeline vandalism had reached an alarming magnitude, since the late 1990’s as the NNPC witnessed between 450 and 1,000 cases of vandalism annually. The high rate of vandalism had obstructed the supply and distribution of petroleum products (both crude and refined) during the period in review.

NNPC had consistently said that within the last 10 years,it had spent over N174.57 billion on pipelines repairs from a total of 16,083 pipeline breaks. While majority of about 15,685 representing 97.5 per cent of the total was from acts of vandalism, the balance of about 398 cases or 2.4 per cent was due to ruptures.

NNPC records showed that System 2E/2EX, which conveys products from the Port Harcourt Refinery to Aba-Enugu-Makurdi depots onwards to Yola-Enugu-Auchi, appears to be the haven of pipeline vandalism in the country, particularly the Port Harcourt-Aba/Isiala-Ngwa axis. In all, about 8,105 line breaks were recorded along the system 2E within the period representing about 50.3 per cent of the total. The attacks left the NNPC with a cost of N78.15 billion in product losses and pipeline repairs. On gas, statistics also showed that the incessant attacks on the Trans Forcados Pipeline have put it out of service since May 2009, thus making it impossible to evacuate crude oil/condensate from some Shell-operated facilities. Currently, over 300,000 bpd and 140mscf production have been deferred, with about N11 billion spent on the repair of about 55 points vandalised on the line. NNPC further said it spent over US$42.952million to execute a two-phase repair of 74 damaged points in System 2C-1 – the Escravos Warri Crude Oil Pipelines which started in September 2009, to enable the start-up of the Warri and Kaduna refineries.

Frequent turn around maintenance

The new boss is expected to bring his experience on board to resolve the constant TAM, which had become a pain in the neck for Nigerians, as the corporation keeps making huge budget for TAM, with nothing to show for the huge expenditure as the refineries have failed to deliver petroleum products to Nigerians.

With the announcement by NNPC that Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have successfully restarted production after a nine-month phased rehabilitation programme.

Port Harcourt Refinery has already raised its operational capacity to about 60 per cent of its 210, 000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity, while production at Warri Refinery was projected to hit 80 per cent of installed 125,000 bpd capacity soon.

The Port Harcourt Refinery was projected to boost the nation’s local refining capacity with a product yield of five (5) million litres of petrol per day, while Warri Refinery would contribute about 3.5 million litres of petrol to local refining capacity.The new NNPC boss is expected to look inwards into the activities of the refineries to ensure that the cabal frustrating the effective operations of the refineries are identified and brought to book,so that Nigerians can reap the benefits of the resources expended on it.

Fuel subsidy

Fuel subsidy is an drain pipe for the country and Nigerians have constantly harped on the need for its removal as it is believed that the regime is only profiting a few Nigerians and some corrupt officials in NNPC.

He is expected to bring down the level of the country’s expenditure on subsidy from the current N1.5 trillion more than the combined budgets for Education, Health, Agriculture, Rural Development, Works, Transport, and Lands and Housing put together.

The truth is that the subsidising petrol distorts the market and has resulted in inefficiencies and substantial loss of revenue for the government through corruption. It has contributed to the collapse of our local refineries by making them unprofitable for private investors to invest. The subsidy regime has also been responsible for sporadic fuel shortages at fuel stations as corrupt marketers, after receiving subsidies, have proceeded to sell the subsidised fuel to neighboring countries at higher prices.

Improved funding for JV operations

For several years, NNPC has failed to meet up with its cash call obligations, especially its Joint Venture operations, a situation which is hurting the economy and making it difficult for the country to reap the inherent benefits in the oil and gas sector

Indeed, Exxonmobil affiliates in Nigeria had two weeks ago lamented the inability of government to meet its cash call obligations in their Joint Venture agreements, saying the development is slowing down exploration activities.

The oil giant disclosed this at its 2015 Energy Outlook Series held in Lagos as part of efforts to educate stakeholders on what to expect from the energy market in 2015 and beyond.

Upstream Treasurer, Exxonmobil Africa, Mr.Anibor Kragha, regretted that JV production has gone down by half, adding that funding constraints in the industry remained real.

‘‘You can only drill if you have fiscal policies that work. We are not drilling much and making new discoveries to grow our reserves. We are not resource challenged but funding challenged. All this in a way slows down the pace of progress.

If we don’t have new developments in conventional, there would be significant decline because these fields have natural decline rates. So, because of that, we have to continuously drill. But as we stand now, we have a lot of JV deals with NNPC and they are seriously underfunded,’’ he said.

Downstream challenges

The corporation cannot afford to maintain the status quo of long queues at the Filling Stations since the availability of products at affordable pump prices are ways of measuring the performance of the NNPC by the public.

This, NNPC has failed to achieve, hence the need to address the factors and challenges responsible for the failure. A number of factors hampering the performance of the Corporation primarily is the fact that the Corporation has not been functioning as a commercial entity which accounts for the systemic issues like limited accountability and performance management.

Other internal factors include limited revenue source, high losses along value chain, low refinery capacity utilization and disproportionate administrative and corporate headquarters costs.Some factors that are extraneous to the Corporation as those of delays in customs clearance, high level of volatility in the international crude oil prices, security/unrest in the Niger Delta and the vandalism of pipelines.

The Man, Kachikwu

Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, a native of Onicha- Ugbo in Delta State,attended the University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka,graduating in 1978 with distinction, emerging as the best graduate.

ACADEMICS:

•Distinction and best graduate (UNN)

•BL (Law School) First Class best graduate.   Won 7 of available 9 prizes in 1979.

•LLM Harvard Distinction and best graduate 1980, specialization on Energy and Petroleum Law and Investment.

•PHD/SJD Harvard Distinction and best graduate, Specialization on Petroleum and Investment Law Strategies.   Set record time for completing Doctoral Thesis.

•H.Dip.T.L; Georgetown, USA

FSCG (Fellow Society for Corporate Governance)

FCIArb (Fellow Chartered Institute of Arbitration)

FCIPP (Fellow Chartered Institute for Petroleum Policy)

Visiting professorship for; various Universities in the world including Harvard Law

CAREER TRACK:

•Over 30 years in policy making positions  in Petroleum Industry including;

•General Counsel/Legal Adviser Texaco Nigeria and Texaco Overseas Petroleum Co – 10 years (1984 -1994).

•General Counsel/Secretary to Board Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited – 2001.

•Executive Director ExxonMobil Group of Companies, (7 in all) – 2003.

•Executive Vice Chairman/General Counsel ExxonMobil Companies in Nigeria And Oversight Counsel ExxonMobil Companies in Africa – since 2009.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

•Authored several law books including the best seller – Nigerian Foreign Investment Law and Policy.

•Authored over 20 publications.

•Influenced over $10billion in investment from ExxonMobil Group into Africa including Nigeria.

•Set major policy planks on, Government Relationship, Investment Policy and Corporate Governance for ExxonMobil in Africa.

•Member of many highly influential Policy and Investment Teams for ExxonMobil Corporation.

•Lead Negotiator on Diverse issues for ExxonMobil in Africa including conclusion of Lease Renewal Negotiations for Mobil Producing.

•Solid contacts in Global Energy Sphere with contacts to most CEOs of large Petroleum Corporations, and Secretaries of Energy for key National Country players, developed over 25 years.

•Respected as a leader by Peers in the industry globally.

THE SUN

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JUST IN: Tinubu Meets Ibori, Wike, Makinde In Abuja

Published

6 days ago

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June 2, 2023

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President Bola Tinubu is currently holding a closed door meeting with James Ibori, former Governor of Delta state; Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Governor of Rivers state; and Seyi Makinde, the Oyo State Governor.

 

The meeting is taking place at the President’s office in Aso Villa.

 

Reports say the three politicians arrived at the Aso Rock Villa at about 4:20om on Friday, 2 June, 2023.

 

Details shortly…

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Court Orders Union Bank To Pay Former Manager N20.2m Over Wrongful Termination…….

Published

7 days ago

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June 2, 2023

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Justice Maureen Esowe of the Lagos division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the Union Bank to immediately pay the total sum of N20, 261, 810 million to one of its retired staff, Asenime Claire Ojuzo.

 

The judgment sum according to Justice Esowe, is the shortfall of gratuity Union Bank ought to pay Mrs. Asenime, upon her retirement.

 

Justice Esowe made the order while delivering judgment in a suit marked NICN/LA/534/2017, filed by a retired officer and the bank.

 

The claimant, a former senior manager at Union Bank, through her lawyer, Chief Paul Omoijiade, had asked the court to “declare that the purported approval by the bank of the claimant’s withdrawal from service which the Claimant did not apply for was wrong.

 

“A declaration that the purported determination of the Claimant’s contract of service by Union Bank is wrongful, same having been done without due process as laid down in the bank’s handbook and the bank’s custom and practice.

 

“A declaration that the purported removal of the claimant from his employment as Senior Manager (SM) without due process amounts to redundancy for which the claimant is entitled to redundancy benefit.

 

“A declaration that Union Bank is in arrears of N18, 114, 600 million, in the payment of the Claimant’s gratuity.

 

“A declaration that the deduction of the sum of N16,106,219.66 million, as outstanding loans, status car, unearned medical, outstanding status generator, and car from the claimant’s gratuity is unlawful.

 

“An order of the honourable court directing Union Bank to pay to Ojuzo the sum of N16,106,219.66 million, deducted from the claimant’s gratuity.

 

“An order of the honourable court directing Union Bank to pay to Ojuzo the sum of N18,114, 600 being a shortfall in the gratuity paid to her.

 

“An order of the honourable court that the bank pays the sum of N12 million, to the Claimant as compensation for the defendant’s wrongful and unlawful action withdrawing the claimant’s services without due process.

 

“An order of the honourable court for the payment of interest at the rate of 20% on the deductions and withheld gratuity under paragraphs (f) and (g) above.

 

“An order of the honourable court that the bank pay to the claimant the sum of N1 million, being the cost of litigation.

 

During the trial of the suit, the claimant told the court that she was a staff of the bank until her employment was wrongfully withdrawn on November 22, 2013, and her terminal benefits were never paid in full.

 

She also told the court that Union Bank also deducted the sum of N16, 106, 219.66 million, which the bank referred to as outstanding loans, unearned housing, status car, and unearned leave from her benefit, adding that, said she never applied for withdrawal service, therefore, the withdrawal of her services is tantamount to redundancy.

 

Defending the suit, Union Bank through its witness, Francis Idiaghe, who was led by Feliz O. Ogungbemi, told the court that there is no provision in the Trust Deed of variation that the claimant or any employee of Union Bank can remain in service till the age of 60. Rather, than underemployment, either party can determine the contract by giving a month’s notice.

 

The witness told the court that the Defendant, exercising her right under the contract, determined the contract by a letter of withdrawal of service dated November 22, 2016, issued to the claimant. Adding that the sum of N16,106,219.66 million, deducted from the claimant’s terminal benefits covers the loans (N13,683,188.86 million) taken by the claimant during the pendency of her employment and the outstanding and unpaid money (N2,247,210 million) covering the cost of her status car and a generating set.

 

Union Bank in its final written address, asked the court to determine “Whether the claimant is entitled to a declaration that the withdrawal of the Claimant’s employment is unlawful.

 

“Whether the Claimant having been paid her terminal benefit and having accepted same, can be heard to complain that his contract was not properly determined.

 

“Whether the termination of the Claimant of employment by the Defendant amounts to redundancy.

 

“Whether the Claimant is entitled to the sum of N18,114,600.00 (Eighteen Million One Hundred and Fourteen Thousand Six Hundred Naira) as outstanding gratuity from the Defendant.

 

“Whether the deduction of the sum from the Claimant’s terminal benefit in the liquidation of Claimant’s outstanding staff loans, status, generator loan, and unearned medical is unlawful.

 

“Whether by the evidence placed before this Honourable Court, the Claimant is entitled to damages in the sum of N12 million.

 

“Whether the Claimant is entitled to interest at the rate of 20% on the alleged outstanding gratuity and the amount allegedly deducted from her gratuity.

 

“Whether the Claimant is entitled to the sum of N1 million, as cost of litigation.”

 

Justice Esowe, in her judgment on the suit after the evaluation of parties’ submissions, and citing plethora of legal authorities, held that: “having gone through the claimant’s claim, evidence led in support, the defendant’s defense, evidence led in support, with the final written submissions of Counsel on both sides, this Court, while adopting all the issues formulated by Counsel, has distilled a sole issue for determination, to wit: Whether the Claimant has proved his case to be entitled to the reliefs sought.” culled: Business Hallmark.

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Dr. Ope Banwo Speaks On Transitioning  Naija Lives Matter Organization To Non-Partisan Mode 

Published

1 week ago

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May 30, 2023

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***Says Organization Will Now Focus On Projects To Improve Nigerian Lives

 

Dr. Ope Banwo, the founder of Naija Lives Matter (NLM), a non-governmental organization committed to better lives for Nigerians has explained the organization’s decision to refocus its priorities.

 

In a statement released on Tuesday, Dr. Banwo stated that the organization’s mission and goals extend beyound the 2023 elections, electioneering campaigns, and politics.

 

According to him, the process of the organization had been clearly communicated from its very beginning to avoid any accusations of opportunism or policy inconsistencies, which are unfortunately common in our country when disagreements arise.

 

He said; “Since 2011, the NLM organization has consistently de-emphasized its partisan support for any specific candidate after the elections and campaigns are over, enabling it to concentrate on its global mandate of making Naija lives matter to all Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations.

 

“When Naija Lives Matter endorsed Peter Obi as our chosen candidate in August 2022, we made it clear that our partisan involvement would solely extend until the conclusion of the elections. Subsequently, we would focus on other aspects of our mission and goals, for which our organization was founded in 2011.

 

“In the past, we supported Jonathan through the GEJ project, rallied behind Buhari through the Buhari4Naija project in 2015, and even had a Moghalu4Naija project before eventually endorsing Peter Obi for the 2023 elections.

 

“Our commitment is not irreversibly tied to any particular politician; it lies in what we believe is in the best interest of Nigeria and its people,” Dr. Banwo said.

 

With the transition, NLM now moves beyond the recent election cycle, with a current focus on organizing projects aimed at making the lives of all Nigerians better.

 

“Henceforth, we shall therefore leave the legal and political affairs to lawyers and politicians, and respect the decisions of the courts, whatever they may be.

 

“In alignment with our mandate and the previously declared engagement period for the 2023 elections, we hereby inform our members that Naija Lives Matter will now shift its focus towards other aspects of our charter such as mass non-partisan mobilization on national issues, youth empowerment training, workshops, community assistance services for the less privileged in Nigeria, and other activities.

 

“In light of this new direction, we will convene meetings with our state directors and cell leaders to announce additional NLM initiatives that extend beyond politics in the coming days. These initiatives will focus on non-partisan national mobilization, youth empowerment through training and workshops, and community-building responsibilities.

 

“All our threads on WhatsApp and other social media platforms will once again be dedicated to NLM as we officially conclude the Peter Obi Nation Project for the 2023 elections,” Dr. Banwo noted.

 

Thanking members of the Peter Obi Nation Project of the NLM organization for their tremendous efforts during the 2023 elections, Dr. Banwo said that together they fought valiantly in a highly contested electoral process, adding that together they gave as much as they got in the very bitter partisan electioneering campaign for the organization’s endorsed candidate, Peter Obi.

 

“We did not compromise and many of us even paid the price of alienating some of our long-term friends in the heat of partisan battle.

 

“To this end, I am immensely proud of every individual involved in this monumental battle, and it has been an honor serving as the Chief Vawolence Officer for Naija Lives Matter side of things during this 2923 election cycle. We also offer No apologies for our passionate campaign for what we passionately believed in. It was what it was.

 

Acknowledging the fact that many individuals who joined NLM’s special Peter Obi Nation Project were primarily interested in supporting the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, and may not share NLM”s broader mandate and NGO charter, Dr. Banwo said that the organization would understand if those solely focused on partisan politics choose to disassociate themselves from the NLM organization across it numerous groups and threads, adding that the organizational continuity transcends any single election cycle.

 

“To be clear, this pivot by NLM does not mean we no longer support Peter Obi. We continue to stand behind his 2023 mandate which we believed in, wholeheartedly. Nevertheless, our organization was not established solely for this election cycle. We have followed the same refocusing approach after the elections in 2011 and 2015. Although the intensity of this cycle was undeniable, our policy remains intact.

 

“We hope that our fellow compatriots engaged in the highly intense campaign for 2023 will understand and respect our decision to shift away from combative partisan politics at this juncture. Instead, we aim to engage the Tinubu government in a non-partisan yet critical manner, reminding them of their promises and holding them accountable. Should the courts later remove him from office, we will also celebrate. But for now, we have a country to assist in governance.”

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