Fuel scarcity finally hits apex

Fuel scarcity persists in Lagos, Abuja, others

Fuel scarcity continued across the country on Sunday as hundreds of motorists and other petrol users formed long queues at the filling stations that dispensed the product.

This is contrary to the promise by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, that the queues would disappear in Lagos and Abuja last Thursday and by the weekend in other parts of the country.

While petrol was sold on Sunday at the approved prices of N86 and N86.50 per litre at the few Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation mega stations and independent marketers’ outlets in the Lagos and Abuja city centres that had the product, it was offered for between N180 and N220 to desperate buyers by independent marketers on the outskirts of the cities and other states such as Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Kwara.

Oil marketers, however, expressed the hope that the queues should disappear this week as they said that additional product would come into the country, while those cleared over the weekend would be distributed.

As it has been the norm for the past two weeks, motorists and other petrol seekers were sighted at filling stations belonging to the NNPC, major oil marketers and a few independent dealers.

For instance, on the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Abuja, filling stations belonging to the NNPC, Conoil, Nipco Plc, AA Rano and Total had long queues of motorists on Sunday.

The same situation was observed on the Abuja-Keffi road in Nasarawa State, as hundreds of motorcycle riders besieged the NNPC mega station that dispensed petrol at the approved price.

However, a few filling stations in remote locations such as Kubwa, Bwari and Dutse sold the product at rates far higher than the approved price.

In Sango, Ota, Ijoko, Mowe and Ibafo, which are communities in Ogun State, petrol was sold on Sunday at between N180 and N200. There were, however, no queues at many of the filling stations.

The situation was the same in Oyo, Osun and Kwara states, where the product could be obtained with relative ease at between N190 and N220 per litre.

On whether the scarcity would end this week, a marketer with Nipco Plc told one of our correspondents that there was hope that the situation would improve compared to what obtained some weeks ago.

The marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “I can’t say the queues will clear completely this week, but there is hope that it will reduce considering the serious collaboration among stakeholders to address this situation.

“We are also expecting additional product and the clearance procedures of vessels is being fastened so that products can be distributed quickly to help reduce the scarcity. So, we hope the situation will improve this week.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has commenced the release of loading tickets for petrol to members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria as part of efforts to address the scarcity of the product as well as settle the 7,000 pending tickets meant for IPMAN.

Audit report: Tame NNPC now

FOR many Nigerians, a new damning audit report is a reminder that the promised cleansing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by the Muhammadu Buhari administration needs to be fast-tracked. While its worst excesses appear to be over, the aftershocks of its financial banditry are still being felt. For an effective and enduring reorganisation of the company, all its dark secrets must be exposed, all stolen funds recovered and the perpetrators brought to justice.

The latest scandal comes in the midst of an ongoing re-modelling by Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who doubles as the Group Managing Director of the state-owned oil company. The familiar ingredients of opacity, corruption and impunity are evident.

The Auditor-General for the Federation, in his recent 2014 Annual Audit Report to the National Assembly, alleged that the NNPC withheld N3.23 trillion due to the Federation Account in 2014. He said $235.68 million revenue from gas sold by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Corporation was also not remitted as required by law but transferred to some shadowy escrow accounts. Although the NNPC was not the only agency indicted, it responded 48 hours later, alleging that the report was full of “errors.” By its own accounting, it owed the Federation Account only N326.14 billion, a figure that it added was still being “reconciled.”

As the public digested this, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the body established by the constitution to fix the remuneration of public office holders, weighed in a week later to declare that the NNPC owed the Federation Account N4.9 trillion in unremitted revenues that accrued between January 2011 and December 2015. But it could not confirm the AGF’s figure of N3.23 trillion unremitted for 2014 alone. Instead, said the RMAFC, the NNPC withheld N1.99 trillion realised from domestic crude oil sales for that year.

With public finances badly hit by falling oil revenues, Nigeria can no longer afford a renegade entity that brings in over 70 per cent of government revenues to continue to operate with impunity. For how much longer should Nigeria continue the embarrassment of multiple statutory agencies giving conflicting figures of the NNPC’s financial transactions?  A report by the The Economist magazine in 2006 found that of the world’s 20 biggest oil companies, 16 were NOCs. An August 2014 report in Upstream, the international oil and gas news outlet, cited research findings proving that these NOCs are prime targets for corruption in countries where it is endemic. Research by the Natural Resources Governance Initiative in 2015 said the NNPC “is (riddled) with financial irregularities and governance failings.” This was confirmed by two former GMDs, Austen Oniwon and Andrew Yakubu, who in recent parliamentary testimonies confirmed that a former minister solely approved $24 billion worth of oil swap deals without reference to them while they were CEO.

Not only must we end what the PwC, the global audit firm, described as its “blank cheque to spend money without limit or control,” those who fleeced the company, awarded dubious contracts and broke laws and regulations should be made to refund all missing funds, while past political figures that authorised fraudulent transactions should be investigated and prosecuted.

Brazilian prosecutors have hauled in the popular former president, Lula Inacio Da Silva, his son and 14 other top figures in a widening corruption investigation at the NOC, Petrobas. There can, therefore, be no sacred cows here. The NNPC has to be reined in. The government should not make the mistake of relying on the perceived integrity of the current petroleum minister alone. It is about processes and openness. The laws must be applied to the letter to disallow the NNPC and ministers from ever again spending as they like. Instructively, the NNPC’s reaction to the AGF’s report reverted to type: it accused the auditors of being “ignorant” of oil sector operations; it claimed to have made deductions for subsidy, for oil pipelines maintenance and for losses from vandalism. This is a recipe for fraud.

The government should tidy up and totally overhaul NNPC’s accounting procedures in line with global best practices. The NNPC is the only public corporation in the world where “reconciliation” is permanently ongoing to determine its financial activities. Such reconciliation was arranged in 2014 after the then CBN governor alleged that perhaps $20 billion had not been remitted to government. But many issues remain unresolved and that should be the primary concern of Kachikwu. There is no word yet on the $6.8 billion that according to the Switzerland-based NGO, Berne Declaration, was stolen through dubious deals between “letter-box” firms and the NNPC, or the $1.6 billion that NEITI says it failed to account for.

The Federal Government should instead of reforms that entrench the failed state capitalism model, privatise all downstream assets of the NNPC. It should be a holding company, with a lean, compact workforce, holding the government’s equity in oil producing firms. Let the private sector run the downstream, while the government builds a strong, investment-friendly regulatory framework and provide efficient tax policies that will maximise the benefits of value addition and job creation, while promoting industry and exports.

Due to corruption and incompetence, the NNPC continues to incur losses, while NOCs like Saudi ARAMCO, according to Fortune Global 500, had revenues of $478 billion in 2015, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation $251-94 billion; Malaysia’s  Petronas $100.74 billion, and Norway’s Statoil, $82.48 billion.

The institutional failure is most severe at the parliamentary level where federal lawmakers fail to exercise their constitutional oversight, but instead, wallow in corruption and extortion.  If the National Assembly had been diligent these past 16 years, NNPC’s and the Executive’s lawlessness would have been squelched.

The change agenda demands very strong action from all arms of government to uncover all past misdeeds, tidy up the books, restructure the NNPC and prosecute all law breakers.

EgyptAir hijacker surrenders in Cyprus

An EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus on Tuesday but the passengers and crew were freed unharmed and the hijacker, whose motives remained a mystery, was arrested after giving himself up.

Passengers and crew members of the hijacked flight arrived in Cairo Airport late Tuesday, state television said.

Eighty-one people, including 21 foreigners and 15 crew, had been onboard the Airbus 320 flight when it took off, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said.

"The passengers are safe and the crew is safe," Egypt's civil aviation minister Sherif Fathy said on state television, minutes after the Cypriot government spokesman said that the hijacker had been taken into custody.

"The hijacker has just been arrested," the spokesman said. The hijacker emerged from the aircraft with his hands in the air, Cyprus's state broadcaster said.

Conflicting theories emerged about the hijacker's motives, with Cypriot officials saying early on the incident did not appear related to terrorism but the Cypriot state broadcaster saying he had demanded the release of women prisoners in Egypt.

After the aircraft landed at Larnaca airport, negotiations began and everyone onboard was freed except three passengers and four crew, Egypt's civil aviation minister said.

Soon after his comments, Cypriot television footage showed several people leaving the plane via the stairs and another man climbing out of the cockpit window and running off.

The hijacker then surrendered to authorities.

Cyprus' foreign affairs ministry identified the hijacker as Seif Eldin Mustafa.

Egyptian state media had earlier identified the hijacker as Egyptian national Ibrahim Samaha. The Egyptian government later apologized to Samaha for the misidentification.

In the midst of the crisis, witnesses said the hijacker had thrown a letter on the apron in Larnaca, written in Arabic, asking that it be delivered to his ex-wife, who is Cypriot.

But the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) said the hijacker had asked for the release of women prisoners in Egypt, suggesting a political motive.

Not terrorism-related

The hijacking was not related to terrorism, the island's President Nicos Anastasiades said.

"The hijacking is not terrorism-related," he told a joint news conference with the visiting president of the European Parliament Martin Schultz.

Meanwhile, Egypt's foreign ministry spokesperson referred to the hijacker as "not a terrorist, but an idiot."

Speaking to reporters after the crisis ended, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said the hijacker was an Egyptian national but that his motives remained unclear.

"At some moments he asked to meet with a representative of the European Union and at other points he asked to go to another airport but there was nothing specific," he said, adding that the man would now be questioned to ascertain his motives.
 

'Suicide belt' claims

Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said the plane's pilot, Omar al-Gammal, had informed authorities that he was threatened by a passenger who claimed to be wearing a suicide explosives belt and forced him to divert the plane to Larnaca. Earlier in the day, the pilot had contacted the Cairo airport control tower to report the hijacking.

The Egyptian minister said authorities suspected the suicide belt was not genuine but treated the incident as serious to ensure the safety of all those on board.

Following his surrender, searches by Cyprus police found no explosives on the hijacker. Counter-terrorism police frisked the hijacker on the tarmac then interrogated him for more than an hour before boarding the plane and searching it with sniffer dogs.

Life of a Campus Boy: Messi named La Liga player of month...for first ti...

Life of a Campus Boy: Messi named La Liga player of month...for first ti...: Barcelona - In a stellar 12-year career, Lionel Messi has won the world player of the year award five times and broken endless goalscori...

Messi named La Liga player of month...for first time

Barcelona - In a stellar 12-year career, Lionel Messi has won the world player of the year award five times and broken endless goalscoring records, but he had never been named player of the month in Spain, until now.

The 28-year-old Argentine forward received the award for La Liga's player of the month for January on Friday, the first time he has won a prize inaugurated in 2013.

Also read: Barca, Real Madrid rivalry spills into Copa del Rey final

His eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo won the award back in November 2013 and the likes of Atletico Madrid pair Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godin and Nolito of Celta Vigo have won it twice.

Messi, meanwhile, has had to wait until now despite winning the La Liga title seven times in his career.

As well as winning the Ballon d'or in January, Messi scored six goals in five games in La Liga to help Luis Enrique's side hold a three-point lead at the top of the table over Atletico Madrid while also having a game in hand.

Messi, who became the all-time leading scorer in La Liga in 2014, has scored 298 goals in Spain's top flight and will have the chance to reach the 300 mark at home to Celta on Sunday.

NAMA director and others arrested by EFCC

Abuja - It has been alleged that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, has been arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission.
Abdulsalam has been arrested alongside a number of directors in the company.

Plateau recovers N2,7million through TSA

Abuja - Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau on Friday disclosed that the state government had recovered N2.7 billion through the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the state.

Lalong made this known at the All Progressives Congress (APC) media roundtable in Abuja.

According to him, the money, which had hitherto been missing, was traced to some accounts in the state and have been recovered.

He said that the recovery had enabled him to pay workers in the state, who had been on strike for months, at a time. "Recently, we recovered about N2.7 billion in the state, money that was regarded as lost. We traced and recovered the money which was meant for teachers.

"Teachers, civil servants, the judiciary had gone on several months of strike; some nine, some 11 but now, since I came on board, we did our best. We now have arrears of salaries of only two months.

"For teachers, we paid all; they are back to work. The judiciary is also back to work. So, for the plateau, we are moving on well.

Also read: Kano State Govt spends N10m on recovered cattle

"In the area of corruption, we are putting pressure on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hasten their investigations so that they can begin prosecution and we can also gain recovery of looted funds,’’ Lalong said.

He said that several other cases had also been sent to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), "which will yield results soon’’.

He disclosed that like the Federal Government, there was pressure to stop prosecution of some cases, while some people with concrete evidence refused to come out to testify.

He, however, said that such antics did not and would not deter the government from pushing for the recovery of stolen funds in the state. The governor said that he was unsure why other governors were finding it difficult to implement the TSA, disclosing that the merits of the system outweighed its demerits.

"I am not an accountant but immediately I became aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of TSA, I gave the instruction that it should be implemented.

"I organised a committee immediately and today, TSA is being implemented.

"I don't know why some governors are finding it difficult to implement TSA in their states but out of the TSA implementation in our state, we have gained some dividends.

"We are now tracing some accounts that were not known to us before and we are seeing some excesses in those accounts, especially in some of the ministries.

"So, I will advise other states that have not yet implemented TSA to do so,’’ he said.

Lalong assured that in spite of the reduction in monthly allocation to the state, there would be no downsizing of workers in the state. "It will be very difficult to downsize on the plateau; I don't intend to and I will not. All I want to do is to maintain what I have and also improve on it.

"That's why our concentration is on improving on the revenue so that we can, if possible, employ additional workforce.

"Downsizing in this present administration is going to be very difficult; the president has advised state governments and even corporate organisations not to downsize,’’ he said.

The governor said that although he was yet to pay all outstanding salaries, he would do so as soon as the Federal Government paid the bailout he applied for in full.

"Before the issue of bailout, we had already started paying workers in the state.

"When the issue of bailout came, we applied for N10 billion which was supposed to be for the arrears of salaries for about eight to nine months and so far, we have only received N5 billion.

"Plateau was supposed to get N10 billion for salaries and for infrastructure but all we have got so far from the Central Bank of Nigeria is N5 billion.

"Even with that, we have been able to clear most of the arrears of salaries; we only have an outstanding of two months salaries not paid in our state.

"We have paid all the outstanding salaries for all our local governments. If I am able to get my balance of N5 billion, within a week, all the remaining salaries would have been cleared.’’