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Alleged economic sabotage and the task before the Bamidele-led probe panel

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Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele

By Atekojo Samson Usman

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Clearly, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in the last six decades has been laced with suspicion and the lack of confidence by Nigerians, analysts and industry stakeholders, due to sharp practices that often led to draw-backs despite the government’s effort to develop the industry being the mainstay of the economy.

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Though, oil was discovered for the first time in Oloibiri in today’s Bayelsa State in 1958, in the South South Nigeria, with International Oil Companies, IOCs dominated the oil exploration and excavation afterwards, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry story has been a sad one and cannot boast of development to an enviable level due to inherent management challenges.

The discovery gave credence to the first law known as ‘Petroleum Act’ which came into force on 27th November, 1969, to address challenges, regulate and strengthen the industry. This however, did not erode challenges of pipeline vandalism, agitation, sabotage, reign of oil cartels and buccaneers who ensured the industry was brought to ‘bended knees’.

Over time, the inadequacy of the Act has never helped in bringing saboteurs to justice and the menace continued until the oil and gas industry slipped away from government control into hands of criminals, such that it has never been seen that Nigeria has met with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC quarter in crude oil productions.

Attempts by successive democratic governments, particularly from 1999 to rejig and reposition the industry to the advantage of Nigeria’s economy has been met with brutal resistance by oil cartels who are sabotaging the industry in cahoots with government officials. When the three government’s owned oil refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri went down finally, several attempts by the military and civilian administration to revive them always ended up in fiasco. After several budgetary allocations, the fund would eventually go down the drain pipe with ‘cock and bull’ story after.

In deft moves to tackle the malaise, the 10th Senate in the last one year after inauguration has been concerned about the deafening cry of economic sabotage with accusation and counter accusation of the petroleum industry officials.

In a motion sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, representing Cross River South Senatorial District, urging Senate to wade into the matter of economic sabotage in the oil sector, it was resolved that an Ad-hoc Committee be set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding alleged economic sabotage that is taking a toll on the nation.

The crux of the motion was the alleged importation of dirty, toxic and sulfurized petroleum substances into the country in connivance with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited officials at the upstream and downstream levels of the sector.

Senate President, Godswill Obot Akpabio, consequently inaugurated a 15-man Adhoc Committee on 3rd July, 2024 with the Senate Leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, as Chairman to investigate and revert to the Committee of the whole within six-weeks.

A look at the mandate of the Bamidele-led Adhoc Committee, viz: “Examine the pre-shipment and pre-discharge standard test parameters adopted by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority with a view to uncovering loopholes, if any, being exploited to get toxic cargoes into the country;

“Determine the level of compliance of the NNPCL’s Direct Sale and Director Purchase, DSP, arrangements in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, including the extent of transparency and accountability in the scheme;

“Beam legislative searchlight on the activities of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, including payments made to transporters in the last 10 years.

“Enquire from the NNPCL the state/status of the 22 depots built by the defunct NNPC to eliminate road distribution of petroleum products;

“Engage with stakeholders within the oil and gas industry with a view to identifying possible gaps in regulating and strengthening the surveillance and monitoring structures in place to enable Nigeria to detect violations of best practice standards in the importation of products before they enter into the domestic supply chain;

“Also engage with the NNPCL with a view to understanding the extent of its determination and timelines for the start-up of government funded oil refineries; among others.”

A look at the mandate of the Committee shows how complex and herculean the investigation could be given that surreptitious activities of buccaneers and cartels in the industry has defied known approach including the much celebrated “Petroleum Industry Act”, which came into being in 2021 after the bill was caught up in crossfire of interest and could not be passed for 13 years.

Though the Act was meant to provide legal framework, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry and development of host communities, it is not an understatement to say that nothing significantly has changed since 2021 of the PIA regime till date.

Lately, the question of $1.5 billion approved in 2021 for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery by the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration has been in the public discourse with no one to address the issue despite assurances by the Group Chief Executive/Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Engr. Mele Kyari.

At the Senate Ad-hoc Committee’s 1-day Stakeholders meeting to commence investigation of the “Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry”, penultimate week, Senator Bamidele lamented the unfair treatment of government businesses.

He however said, nobody was on trial and urged all stakeholders to cooperate with the panel and avail all necessary documents that would assist in carrying out a discreet investigation.

Bamidele observed that the federation “is undergoing a truly challenging period,” pointing out that the distribution and supply of refined petroleum products “has been irregular and problematic in the recent history of our fatherland.”

“The long queues at filling stations are obviously a testament to this challenge. A situation, whereby we now depend almost entirely on the importation of these products, even when we daily supply the global oil market no fewer than two percent of its crude oil requirements, is to say the least, highly worrisome.

“We also have at hand a grievous issue of national concern that directly borders on the importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country.”

Speaking at the session, the NNPCL boss, Kyari refuted allegations of sabotage and wished that legislative investigation of the agency be transmitted live on national television stations for Nigerians to watch.

He expressed frustration over what he described as a media attack on his person and management staff of the NNPCL, emphasizing that officials of the company are not thieves or criminals.

He said: “Mr Chairman I will wait for the public hearing and I also agree with the Minister that it should be broadcast live so that Nigerians will hear us. So that all the misinformation that you see today will be put to rest, so that Nigerians will know the truth.

“All of us here will see what is happening in the media. The targeted attack on my person, on the institution, and we all know how this works, they are deliberate, they are calculated.

“So that the impression that NNPCL and our leadership are doing anything to create economic sabotage in our country, is far from that, Mr Chairman”, Kyari said.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Malam Melee Kyari; Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe and Chief Executive Office, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, among others.

Earlier, at a question and answer session, journalists expressed concerns that the exercise may go the way of previous ones, where nothing is heard after investigation until the session will elapse.

Reacting, a member of the Ad-hoc Committee and Senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi assured that the report of the investigation will be laid on the floor of the Senate for further legislative attention.

He also promised that the Committee will expose anyone found sabotaging government effort in the Petroleum industry, even if the “person is a sitting Senator or a member of the House of Representatives.”

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Bruno Fernandes: Mikel Arteta credits ‘smart’ Man Utd captain for free-kick as Gary Neville says wall ‘too far back’

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The Arsenal wall was measured 11.2 yards away from the ball instead of the regulation 10 at the free-kick which Bruno Fernandes scored from

Mikel Arteta says Bruno Fernandes was “smarter” than referee Anthony Taylor over his free-kick that gave Manchester United the lead against Arsenal in 1-1 draw on Sunday; referee moved defensive wall 11.2 yards back; Gary Neville criticised Arsenal over incident

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Mikel Arteta refused to criticise Anthony Taylor for sending Arsenal’s defensive wall too far back for Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick in their 1-1 draw but said the Manchester United captain had been “smarter” than the referee in taking advantage to net his fine strike.

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Broadcast technology found Taylor marched the Arsenal defensive line 11.2 yards back, further than the minimum 10 yards required in the Laws of the Game, before Fernandes curled a dead ball inside the near post shortly before half-time.

“At the end of the day the referee is pushing them back too far, which is a mistake, but ordinarily you would sense you’re too far away and creep forward,” said Gary Neville on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“They didn’t do that and it ends up that Bruno Fernandes has the ability to play it over the wall.”

The United captain’s technique was superb but, like Neville, the Super Sunday pundits questioned whether his goal would have been possible had Arsenal’s five-player wall been closer.

Arteta refused to be drawn over the incident, only to congratulate Fernandes for making the most of the advantage he had been given.
“He’s been smart and he took advantage, that is football,” he told Sky Sports. “He’s been smarter than the ref. That’s OK, they allowed him to do it.”

Player of the match Declan Rice, who netted Arsenal’s equaliser after half-time, took the blame for the goal on himself and the other members of the Gunners wall, though he also felt it had been pushed too far back.

“It felt like a couple of us jumped and some of us didn’t, but I’ve not seen it back,” he told Sky Sports. “It felt like the ball flew over us at quite a low height so, from the wall’s perspective, we could have done a lot better.
“The wall did feel far back. Even on our free-kick, when Martin [Odegaard] took it, they felt far back as well, more than usual. But the referee makes that decision.”

After half-time, another free-kick from Martin Odegaard was being lined up when Taylor again appeared to exceed 10 yards when marking out where Man Utd’s defensive wall could stand.

As Neville had suggested Arsenal should do, Noussair Mazraoui questioned Taylor over the distance, while the wall itself crept forward before Odegaard’s strike – and did its job when his effort rebounded away to safety.

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim told Sky Sports he had noticed the issues with both free-kicks but had no intention of helping Arsenal out ahead of Fernandes’ opener.

He said: “It was clear, both free-kicks. So when it’s your free kick, you don’t say anything. When it’s the opponent, you try to push because it’s a big difference.

“It was fair, one for us, one for them. We had Bruno and he solved the problem.”

Man Utd midfielder Christian Eriksen, who has scored eight Premier League free-kicks, explained after the game the sizeable difference even 1.2 yards extra would make for a dead-ball specialist.

“It makes a very big difference,” he told Sky Sports. “When the ball is over the wall you don’t need to hit it as high – going down to statistics and how far they are back and how many metres and how they jump. So it’s easier and it gives Bruno a bit more space to put it over the wall.

“It was very good. It helped that the wall was about 15 metres away, so it was perfect for him to put it over.

“I saw it early [that the wall was a fair way back]. Even before the kick you could see how far back they were, and it was the same when they had it in the second half – obviously we were a bit angry with the ref [at that point] for putting us so far back after we saw that Bruno scored.

“But I think it was just beneficial to us.”

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Sule Lamido: Statesman, bridge builder

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Former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido

Alhaji Sule Lamido was born August 30, 1948. He is a native of Bamaina village, Jigawa State, and is known for his wide-level exposure in leadership. He attended Birnin Kudu school, for his primary education in 1955 and proceeded for his secondary education at the prestigious Barewa College, Zaria, Kaduna State.

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Lamido embarked on a course in Railway engineering at the Permanent way training school, Zaria, Kaduna where he gained knowledge on the rail transport operations. Upon graduation from the Permanent Way Training School, Lamido started his career as a Quality Control officer at the Nigeria Tobacco Company in Zaria. He also worked in Bamaina Holding Company, amongst other companies in the country.

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He also worked in Bamaina Holding Company, amongst other companies in the country. In 1992, Lamido ventured into politics, first in the second republic as a member of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) where he was an active member. Lamido was also active in the third republic, as a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and played a key role as the National Secretary in the party. The seasoned politician was also a delegate of the 1995 National Constitutional Conference in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

During the military regime of the late Gen Sani Abacha, Lamido was a member of the G-34 political movement which was a notable and powerful opposition group that shaped Nigeria’s fourth republic. After several years of the Military junta in Nigeria, Sule Lamido returned back to active politics in the fourth republic under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party.

He was appointed the Foreign Affairs Minister in the first four years of President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2003) at a time Nigeria had to reposition and redeem its image in the international community. As Foreign Minister he travelled with Former President Obasanjo across the globe, restoring broken relationships with the western bloc nations and opening new frontiers with countries like Japan, Russia, Brazil, China and Australia.

Other roles he played as foreign minister was representing Nigeria in the United Nations, G77 bloc of nations, Commonwealth of nations, Organization of African Unity and Economic Community of West Africa States. In November 2001, at the United Nations , Lamido described the corrosive impact of corruption on new democracies such as Nigeria, and called for “an international instrument” against transfer of looted funds abroad.

As Governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido put the State on national scale with significant investments in infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, housing & urban development, empowerment programmes, education, rural development and industrial projects. The elder statesman is also known for his capacity to build consensus across the nation.

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Remembering Anthony Enahoro

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By Abiodun Komolafe

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It is a settled fact that Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (July 22, 1923 – December 15, 2010) was an outstanding product of Nigeria’s pre-independence era. Enahoro moved one of the motions for independence and there’s a lot for us to look at in the context of the life he lived and the political firmament that brought him up. Therefore, remembering this Father of Nigerian Nationalism is to reminisce about an era where courage and conviction were the
currencies of change.

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As a pioneering journalist, politician and champion of independence, Enahoro’s unwavering commitment to Nigeria’s self-rule has left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire generations. His remarkable story is a testament to the transformative power of leadership, perseverance and the unrelenting pursuit of freedom.

Building on his legacy as a champion of independence, Enahoro went on to serve in various capacities, including as Minister of Information and Labour. He was later tried alongside Obafemi Awolowo and others for treasonable felony, a trial that became infamous in Nigerian history. Although convicted, Enahoro was later released and continued to play a significant role in shaping Nigeria’s political landscape. 

Enahoro was an outstanding nationalist and a principled person, and this was evident in his involvement with the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Of course, there was no need for him and Alfred Rewane to have been involved in the struggle for the enthronement of democracy, particularly in the aftermath of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election won by MKO Abiola as they had too much to lose!. But they risked everything to fight for popular democracy, Although Rewane ultimately lost his life in the struggle, Enahoro was fortunate to have escaped the same fate.

Despite the risks and challenges, Enahoro remained unbending in his convictions, refusing to waver even in the face of adversity. As a gifted individual, he recognized that the issue at hand was not just about the violation of an individual's rights, but an affront to democracy and national sovereignty. He, along with Alfred Rewane and others fought for principles, not personalities. This commitment to principle was evident in their diverse backgrounds: Enahoro was a Christian from Uromi in Edo State, with Esan extraction; Rewane was a Christian of Urhobo descent from Delta State; and Abiola, whose rights they fought for, was a Muslim Yorubaman, from Ogun State. Unlike some NADECO members who howled with the wolves and bleated with the sheep for convenience, Enahoro was not
duplicitous. Unlike the crop of Janjaweeds who now populate our political landscape, he remained steadfast, refusing to compromise his values.

Olajumoke Ogunkeyede, a close ally of Enahoro, described him as “a man with a seriously fantastic sense of humour; Ogunkeyede, fondly called JMK, shared several instances of Enahoro’s ability to bring joy to those around him. His humorous takes on serious issues, such as the demons in Abuja, showcased his wit. Moreover, his clever commentaries, including his defence of now-President Bola Tinubu’s aspirations, and his ingenious use of allegories and analogies, like; Ogbuefi; and; Ogbueniyan’, collectively attested to the capacity of his wit and charm.

When writing about individuals like Enahoro, Rewane, Herbert Macaulay, Awolowo, Aminu Kano, Maitama Sule, and others, it’s essential to consider the context in which they lived. This context is bittersweet, as they represented an era where political activism was rooted in philosophical positions and guided by principles.

People during this time held strong convictions and were willing to make sacrifices for their beliefs. That’s why society was more orderly in their time, and it achieved proper sustainable development, unlike today where what we have is largely ‘growth without development’, to be polite, or, if we want to be impolite, ‘the development of underdevelopment’. Amidst this, our leaders continue to sing the same old, worn-out refrain while satiating a vacuous idolatry that elevates an ego bereft of substance, a hollow monolith that stands on feet of clay.

If we look at people like Enahoro and Adegoke Adelabu, their lives exemplified a paradox that underscored the tenuous relationship between knowledge and credentials. This was because, despite lacking university degrees, they possessed a profound intellectual depth that eluded many of their contemporaries who boasted an array of impressive certifications, forgetting that it is not the parchment that confers wisdom, but the depth of one's inquiry, the rigour of one's thought and the breadth of one’s understanding.

Enahoro became the youngest editor of Nnamdi Azikiwe's newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender, in 1944 at the age of 21 while Peter, his younger brother, became the editor of The Morning Star at the age of 23. The older Enahoro also worked with other publications, including Daily Comet and West African Pilot before parting ways with Azikiwe, whom he always referred to as his chairman, while Awolowo was his political leader. The reasons behind this preference are intriguing, but that’s a story for another time.

These early experiences laid the foundation for Enahoro’s later involvement with the Action Group (AG), a political party that shared his vision of ‘making life more abundant.’ Enahoro and the AG represented an understanding that the process of economic development must be structured and based on a philosophical thrust. In contrast, what is absurdly described as ‘politics’ today is terribly bad and basically transactional; and it’s driven by a cash-and-
carry mentality, where individuals seek to outdo one another in a chop-and-quench; political economy! No unity! No discipline! No structure! For them, any goose can cackle and any fly can find a sore place!

Looking at the plane, Enahoro’s life and career epitomized the complexities of Nigeria’s struggle for
independence and democracy. His life and work embodied the intersection of individual agency and structural forces that steered the trajectory of nations. As a prominent anti-colonial and pro- democracy activist, he played a pivotal role in the country’s transition from colonial rule to independence. The Adolor of Uromi and the Adolor of Onewa was a vocal critic of authoritarianism and a strong advocate for human rights. His perseverance in the face of resistance, setbacks and imprisonment demonstrates the dedication required to bring about
transformative change.

In moments of emotions and situations, we often discover our true strength and resilience. Enahoro has gone to the ages but his legacy continues to inspire, much like Abraham Lincolns. In simpler terms, he was a brave soul who dared to challenge the colonial powers. So, his legacy should serve as inspiration and role model for future generations, demonstrating the potential for excellence that exists within individuals and communities. In fairness to fate, Enahoro and his contemporaries were well-prepared for the liberation movement, thanks to their involvement in the West African Students Union (WASU) and their time at King’s College, Lagos. This institution, attended by Enahoro and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was a hotbed for political activism and discourse. To truly reboot, Nigerians must remember the personal histories of pioneers like Enahoro.

Today, we remember Enahoro, a pioneering figure who dared to dream of independence for Nigeria. We honour not only his significant contributions to Nigeria’s history but also his untiring commitment to democracy, self-determination and human rights. As we remember him and his dogged commitment to federalism and the quest for social justice, it is in our best interest to recreate the ethos and the spirit which created him and people like him.
May Anthony Enahoro’s spirit soar on the wings of eternal peace!

May his memory continue to serve as a testament to the enduring impact of individual agency
on the course of national history!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

*KOMOLAFE wrote from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

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