…Ribadu, Orosanye Disagree Publicly On Submitted Report
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Friday received the comprehensive reports of three committees set up by the Federal Government earlier this year on different aspects of the operation of the country's petroleum industry.
While the Petrole
um Revenue Special Task Force was chaired by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, those of Governance and Control Task Force, tasked with designing a new corporate governance code for ensuring full transparency, good governance and global best practices in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil industry parastatals had Mr. Dotun Sulaiman as its chairman. The National Refineries Committee headed by Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu with Mallam Yusuf Ali as alternate chairman was charged with conducting a high-level assessment of the nation's refineries and recommending ways of improving their efficiency and commercial viability.
But the presentation was almost marred by open disagreement in the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when Mr. Steve Orosanye, deputy chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force told President Jonathan that he was not part of the report submitted by Mallam Ribadu.
The brickbats between Ribadu and Orosanye and their supporters within the committee were such that President Jonathan quipped when he wanted to make his remarks: "My friends from the media, I know you have a big story today."
Immediately Ribadu submitted the report to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke for onward transmission to President Jonathan, Orosanye raised his hands and was recognised by the President to speak. He said: "When I joined the committee, I made certain observations. And if the process is flawed, the outcome cannot be implemented. The process is flawed. And the report is a knee-jerk reaction. I don't even know what the report (presented to the President) contains."
Another member of the committee, Mr. Bernard Oti supported Orosanye, noting that "from the onset, I was very clear that we are not following the right procedures. And so, I am not persuaded to be part of the work being submitted."
The acting secretary of the committee, Mallam Sumaila Zubairu rose in defence o the process, stating that actually, both Orosanye and Oti joined the committee very late. Zubairu said when the final draft of the report was prepared; they attacked it, submitting that it was too harsh. Orosanye rose again in defence of his stance, stating that actually, "some of the figures in the draft report were unreconciled figures." He added that if the final report was not ready, there was no reason it should be rushed.
At this point, Ribadu was given the floor to respond. He said: "I was not expecting this development. The task force was set up in February. Most of the members abandoned what they were doing and we worked for three months. Steve (Orosanye) never participated in any of the meetings for this work. And during the course of the committee work, Steve (Orosanye) became a member of the board of the NNPC. And Mr. Oti became a director in NNPC. They opted to remain as members of the committee. By the time they have been appointed as board member and director, they ought to have resigned. They didn't."
In accepting the reports, President Jonathan counseled any committee member who had issues to channel such observations to him through his Chief of Staff or the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
According to the President, "I am not surprised there are disagreement (between the members of the committee on the Petroleum Revenue Task Force). It is about money. There are some lapses and probably not everyone agreed. What I will advise is that any member who have certain issues or observations should write them directly to me through the Chief of Staff or the Honourable Minister of Petroleum."
President Jonathan then assured Nigerians that his government has no interest in hiding anything, imploring the media and civil society groups to help in dispelling such insinuations. He stated that if the finding of the committees border on corruption or outright stealing, such aspects of the report will be forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The President said the submission of the reports has given impetus to the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) saying that "the bill is relevant to the country. It has nothing to with a sitting President or a sitting Minister of Petroleum. Whatever we are doing now is not for the benefit of the people in government now. We cannot continue to lag behind. If we don't review our approach, the oil companies will either abandon us and go to other countries or they will continue to exploit us."
On the refineries report, Jonathan said that it is disgraceful that Nigerian is still importing petroleum products, adding that if the situation continues for the next 10 years, people will look back and conclude that all the people who have ruled Nigeria have failed woefully. Said he, "we import what we have and export what we don't have and today, we are still importing Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), kerosine and diesel. It is disgraceful. If in 10 years we are still importing fuel, it means that we did not rule Nigeria well. We are using the geo-political zones for politics instead of using the zones for development of our country."
Ribadu later told journalists in an interview that contrary to what is being said in some quarters, his committee's report in circulation "is the same as what we submitted today."
"There is no difference and you can see clearly what happened. We work for our country and we work for our people and stand by what is the truth. Nothing can change that. What we said is exactly what we have produced," he said.
