Saturday, 27 June 2015

NNPC Probe Begins As PMB Sacks Board

President Muhammadu Buhari has
dissolved the Board of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation with immediate
effect.
The announcement was made in a
statement by the Director Communications,
Office of Head of Civil Service of the
Federation, Alhaji Haruna Imrana, on behalf
of the HoS, Mr. Danladi Kifasi.
“The directive to that effect was conveyed in
a letter signed yesterday (Friday) June 26,
2015 by the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Danladi Kifasi.
In it, the President thanked members of the
dissolved board for their services to the
nation,” he said.
The NNPC is the state-run oil company
which oversees Nigeria’s oil and gas
industry. It’s board is statutorily headed by
the minister of petroleum resources.
The corporation regulates the oil and gas
sector, and also operates as a joint venture
partner representing the government in
deals with oil multinationals.
The NNPC has in recent years been accused
of large scale corruption, the latest being the
alleged disappearance of $20 billion oil
money.
An independent audit ordered by the
Nigerian government in 2014 concluded that
the corporation has an outstanding $1.48
billion to pay to the government.
The NNPC has yet to make the payment
several months after the release of the audit
report.
The audit was sequel to the complaint
forwarded to former President Goodluck
Jonathan by the former Central Bank
Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. His report
was followed up by a letter signed by
Deputy Governor, Corporate Services,
Suleiman Barau and addressed to the
Senate Committee on Public Account with
ref: NASS/S/CPAC/017 dated 19th
November, 2013 called attention to
unremitted oil money amounting to $49.8
billion by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC).
Meet the Sacked Board Members of the
NNPC
Dr. Joseph T. Dawha —Group Managing
Director, hails from Borno State. He is an
industry’s man who had served the
corporation over the years in various
capacities before becoming the GMD in
March 2014. Dawha once served as Acting
Group Executive Director of Exploration &
Production at Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation until he was appointed GMD in
March 2014. Dr. Dawha was also as the
Managing Director of Integrated Data
Services Ltd (IDSL) since 2005. He is
capacities, in the upstream and downstream
sectors of the industry.
Mr. Bernard O.N. Otti —until the dissolution
of the board was NNPC’s Group Executive
Director, Finance & Account and Deputy
Group Managing Director. Otti fought
frantically to discredit the report of Nuhu
Ribadu panel that indicted the NNPC board
in 2012. He threw caution to the dogs and
got physical with the former anti-corruption
czar before the former President at the villa
during the submission of the report, saying it
was ‘contrived’. Otti, a trained and
experienced economist with more than
twenty-four years post-graduate rich and
varied experience was an erstwhile banker.
He served the defunct NAL Merchant Bank,
in a career that spanned over fifteen years.
He served key positions in NAL merchant
bank such as Forex and Treasury activities,
Asset Management, Financial/Strategic
adviser to various state governments and
restructuring of local and international debts
of developmental projects and industries.
He served as Director of Nigerian Starch
Mills Limited. He holds an MBA and B.Sc.
degrees from Utah state University. He has
a Diploma of the American Institute of
Banking.
Dr. Dan Efebo — Group Executive Director,
Corporate Services was before his
appointment into the board the Group
General Manager, in charge of the NNPC’s
Human Resources Division. He was
previously General Manager, Human
Resources, Brass LNG. He hails from
Bayelsa state.
Alhaji Abdullahi Bukar — A celebrated
professional Engineer, he was a staff of
Shell Petroleum Development Company of
Nigeria and retired after over 30 years of
meritorious service. Within this period he
rose to become Engineering Manager and
Technical Director of SPDC.
Danladi Kifasi — The man who announced
the dissolution of the board on behalf of
President Buahri is the Head of Civil Service
of the Federation, HOCSF and a member of
the board. A former Permanent Secretary in
the Federal Ministry of Finance, Kifasi also
had stint as Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Born on
January 1, 1956, Kifasi serves as a non-
Executive Director of the Asset Management
Company of Nigeria, AMCON, and an
Alternate Governor of Islamic Development
Bank. An indigene of Taraba State, Mr.
Kifasi, a chartered accountant and lawyer,
was one of three Permanent Secretaries
from the country’s North-East geo-political
zone.
Stephen Osagiede Oronsaye — first
appointed onto the Board of the CBN on July
31, 2008 for a four-year term, by virtue of
his position then as Permanent Secretary in
the Federal Ministry of Finance. His
appointment was renewed in 2012 by
President Jonathan. Oronsanye’s
appointment raised eyebrows as it was
believed to have violated the provisions of
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007
(as amended). Oronsaye, already serving as
a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the
CBN and at the same time serving in a
similar position on the Board of the NNPC
negates Section 10 sub-section (2) of CBN
Act, that states that a Director of the CBN
cannot take up a similar appointment in any
government establishment, whether federal,
state or local government.
Oransanye is not new to controversy. An
accountant and civil servant who retired as
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in
June 2009, he had been appointed Principal
Private Secretary to President Olusegun
Obasanjo in1999. He was confirmed as
Permanent Secretary, State House, an
unusual appointment since he was not a
civil servant, until then. In 2006, Oronsaye
headed the committee on the review of the
Civil Service Rules and Financial
Regulations. He was appointed Permanent
Secretary of the Federal Ministry of on 20
August 2008. Oronsanye retired on 16
November 2010 after reaching the statutory
retirement age of 60.
Ikechukwu Oguine – Former President
Jonathan appointed Mr. Ikechukwu Oguine
as the Coordinator, Legal Services and
Company Secretary of Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in April,
2014. Oguine, from Anambra State, who has
over 29 years of legal experience, replaces
Mr. Anthony Chukwuma Madichie, who has
served as NNPC’s Legal Adviser and
Secretary to the Corporation since February
2011.
He was previously the General Counsel of
Chevron Nigeria Ltd and has been a partner
in Advisory Legal Consultants, a law firm
specializing in oil, gas, power and mining.
Also on the board were Mr. Danladi Wadzani
and Prof. Olusegun Okunnu as members.


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