JPMorgan’s Role In Nigerian Oil Deal Has Come Back To Haunt It

JP Morgan Chase image by Mike Segar/Reuters via The New York Times

BY EMILY FLITTER

Under the rule of the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha more than 20 years ago, a handful of high-ranking government officials looted billions of dollars from the country’s coffers.

Now the Nigerian government is demanding some of its money back — from JPMorgan Chase.

In a British court, lawyers for the country are suing a subsidiary of the largest United States bank, charging that it enabled corrupt former officials to extract nearly $900 million between 2011 and 2013 from a government bank account in London.

JPMorgan says it was following instructions it received from senior Nigerian government officials. The country’s attorney general himself wrote a letter attesting to the legitimacy of the instructions. But the bank has been unable to persuade a British judge to throw out the case, in part because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the money transfers — including the fact that two banks to which JPMorgan wired the money rejected the transfers because of concerns that they might violate money-laundering laws.

At the heart of the case is whether JPMorgan did enough to safeguard Nigeria’s money. Under British law, banks are required to act in their customers’ best interests, even if someone connected to a customer tries to get them to do otherwise. Even as it tried to send money to various recipients, JPMorgan reported to regulators its concerns that it might be transferring funds to a convicted money launderer. It made the transfers anyway.

It is the latest example of a major American bank getting caught up in a foreign corruption scandal. In Malaysia, Goldman Sachs and some former executives have been accused of participating in a multibillion-dollar fraud involving a government investment fund. Unlike those executives, however, no JPMorgan employees have been accused of wrongdoing.

In the London lawsuit, the Nigerian government is seeking damages from JPMorgan of nearly $900 million.

The bank’s decision to do business with Nigeria — a country that is ranked 144th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption list — involved a calculation of risk.

“A head of state known or alleged to be corrupt is the riskiest type of client, both because of potential civil and criminal liability and because of reputational damage should details of the relationship come out, as they often do when there is a change in power in the relevant country,” said Joshua Kirschenbaum, a former director at the Treasury Department’s anti-money-laundering agency, FinCEN.

A JPMorgan spokesman said it would fight Nigeria’s legal claim, which “is completely without merit.”

The bank has argued in court filings that its agreement with the Nigerian government specified, at the time it was signed, that JPMorgan would follow whatever instructions it received, even if it had reason to believe that the instructions were “not in the best interests” of the account holder.

It also claims that Nigeria has failed to identify specific things it could have done differently, since it reported each suspicious set of instructions to its British regulator.

Aside from the London lawsuit, JPMorgan has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Nigerian affair.

Court papers from the London lawsuit and a related criminal trial underway in Italy provide a detailed record of the alleged scheme. (JPMorgan is not a subject of the criminal trial.)

It began when Mr. Abacha, the president at the time, awarded a license to drill oil near the Niger River Delta to Dan Etete, Nigeria’s oil minister. Mr. Etete paid just $2 million for the license, which was expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

Mr. Abacha’s successors accused Mr. Etete of corruption and tried to revoke the license. They were unsuccessful. Mr. Etete has denied wrongdoing.

In 2007, though, Mr. Etete was convicted of money laundering in an unrelated case in France, and two oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, offered to buy the drilling license. In 2011, they struck a deal to pay the Nigerian government, then led by Goodluck Jonathan, more than $1 billion for the license.

But under the agreement, according to Italian and Dutch prosecutors, most of the money was slated to go to Mr. Etete and Mr. Jonathan’s friends, and not the Nigerian government.

Nigerian officials opened an account at JPMorgan in London, and an Eni subsidiary deposited about $1.1 billion on May 25, 2011. Within days, the Nigerian officials instructed the bank to transfer the money to an account at a Swiss bank, Banca Svizzera Italiana.

When JPMorgan sent the funds, B.S.I. officials sent them right back, telling JPMorgan that they were “not comfortable” with the transfer, citing “compliance reasons.” Emails among B.S.I. employees, published in Italian court filings, show that the Swiss bank suspected that the funds were bound for Mr. Etete.

After B.S.I. rejected the transfer, JPMorgan told British regulators that it, too, harbored concerns about whether the money was headed to Mr. Etete. It was the first of six suspicious activity reports that JPMorgan sent to British regulators in relation to the Nigerian account that summer. While JPMorgan was suspicious, it did not close or freeze Nigeria’s account.

(Swiss authorities in 2016 forced B.S.I. to sell itself or shut down after finding that the bank had helped Malaysian officials illegally siphon money out of the government investment fund 1MDB.)

In July 2011, Nigerian officials requested that JPMorgan transfer the entire $1.1 billion to a Lebanese bank.

By then, a large portion of the funds had been frozen in court.

JPMorgan submitted a letter to a British judge from Nigeria’s attorney general attesting to the legitimacy of the planned Lebanese transfer. The judge released $800 million, but told JPMorgan lawyers he was concerned that “the court was about to become if not a participant in at least an aide to a money-laundering exercise,” according to a court filing.

JPMorgan transferred the $800 million to Lebanon’s Banque Misr Liban. But the Lebanese bank sent the money back, saying it could not accept it without more information about the purpose of the transfer, according to a judge’s ruling in Italy and a London court filing made on behalf of Nigeria’s government.

Raymond Baker, the president of the Washington-based nonprofit advisory group Global Financial Integrity, who has followed the case of Mr. Etete’s oil license, said JPMorgan at that point should have sought a detailed explanation from Nigeria about the purpose of the wire transfers.

“There is a culture of ‘take the money, handle the money,’ regardless of other issues that might come up,” Mr. Baker said.

After the Lebanese bank rejected the money transfer, the Nigerian government asked JPMorgan to send $400 million each to accounts at two Nigerian banks held by Mr. Etete. JPMorgan again flagged the transactions as suspicious to British regulators. The regulator, Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (now called the National Crime Agency), consented to the transfers, although it cautioned that the consent did not mean JPMorgan would be legally off the hook if problems with the transfers later arose, according to London court filings that cite the suspicious-activity reports.

The money transfers went through.

Two years passed, during which the Financial Times and The Economist published reports on the alleged scheme to pocket the oil money. In fall 2012, an investigator for the anti-corruption group Global Witness wrote a letter to JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, asking questions about the money transfers.

In 2013, acting on another set of instructions from Nigerian government officials, JPMorgan sent the remaining $74 million in the account to one of Mr. Etete’s corporate accounts in Nigeria, according to the London court filing. The JPMorgan account had been set up as a “single purpose” account, established only to handle the money from the drilling-license agreement. Now that it was empty, it ceased to exist.

Timeline: Shell's Operations In Nigeria

A view shows the Bonny oil terminal in the Niger delta which is operated by Royal Dutch Shell in Port Harcourt, Nigeria August 1, 2018. Picture taken August 1, 2018. To match Insight NIGERIA-SECURITY REUTERS/Ron Bousso 

LONDON (REUTERS) - Royal Dutch Shell pioneered Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and remains a major investor in the West African country. But over the decades it has come under fire over spills in the Delta region and struggles with oil theft, corruption and oil-fueled violence.

Following are some of the highlights of Shell’s history in Nigeria:

1936 - The Royal Dutch Shell Group establishes a Nigerian venture with the precursor company of BP Plc. The first shipment of oil from Nigeria takes place in 1958.

April 1973 - Nigerian government takes a stake in the venture. Over the coming years, the government increases its stake and BP exits.

1979 - The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) is established, incorporating assets of the older Shell-BP consortium. Over time, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation comes to own 55 percent, Shell owns 30 percent, France’s Total owns 10 percent and Italy’s Eni 5 percent. Shell remains the operator.

1990 - The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), led by firebrand environmental rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, starts campaigning for a fairer share of oil wealth for the Ogoni people living on oil fields and compensation for environmental damage.

January 1993 - MOSOP organises protests of around 300,000 Ogoni people against Shell and oil pollution. Nigeria’s military government occupies the region.

April 1993 - Shell forms Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), which signs Production Sharing Contracts to develop offshore oil and gas interests.

1993 - Shell ceases production in Ogoniland.

November 1995 - Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders are executed by Sani Abacha’s military government on alleged murder charges, to worldwide horror. Nigeria is suspended from the Commonwealth.

Late 1990s - Over time, Shell’s focus shifts to offshore exploration, where it enjoys better margins and fewer threats of attack by militants.

October 2003 - SPDC pumps more than 1 million barrels of oil per day.

2005 - Shell starts production at the giant Bonga offshore field.

2006 - Militant group MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) emerges and begins to attack Shell facilities. Like MOSOP it seeks a great share of oil wealth for the Delta’s people and remediation for oil spills. SPDC pump stations and platforms in Niger delta are attacked and production falls.

2008 - Two large spills, a result of operational faults, hit the community of Bodo in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. Tens of thousands of barrels of oil are spilt.

January 2010 - SPDC sells some onshore fields and says it is no longer looking to Nigeria for growth.

April 2011 - Shell and Italy’s Eni acquire oil production licence (OPL) 245, a large offshore field, for $1.1 billion from local company Malabu.

August 2011 - A U.N. report criticises Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in Ogoniland which it says needs the world’s largest oil clean-up, costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.

March 2012 - A group of 11,000 Nigerians from Bodo, Ogoniland, launch a suit against Shell at the London High Court, seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation for the 2008 oil spills.

January 2013 - A Dutch court rules that Shell could be held partially responsible for pollution in the Niger Delta, saying the company should have prevented sabotage at one of its facilities. Four Nigerians and Friends of the Earth filed the suit originally in 2008 in the Netherlands.


January 2015 - Shell accepts liability for the Bodo spills, agreeing to pay 55 million pounds ($83 million at the time) to Bodo villagers and to clean up their lands and waterways.

May 2018 - Court case against Shell and Eni over the 2011 OPL 245 acquisition starts in Milan. Nine current and former executives and contractors, including ENI Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, are accused by Italian prosecutors of paying bribes to secure the license.

Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall

Malabu Scandal: How Etete Bought Luxury Dubai Properties With Funds

Nigeria's former Minster of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete. Image via Premium Times

(PREMIUM TIMES)--A leak of private property data in Dubai has shed new light on how the proceeds of a notorious $1.3 billion oil deal involving Shell may have been spent on luxury villas in the secretive Arab Emirate.

PREMIUM TIMES’ UK partner, Finance Uncovered, has discovered the name of former Nigerian oil minister Daniel Etete among thousands of property and residency records compiled by assorted real estate professionals in Dubai. The leak was obtained by the U.S. non-profit C4ADS, passed to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and seen by Finance Uncovered.

Mr Etete was the suspected mastermind behind a 2011 deal known as OPL245 that is alleged to be one of the most corrupt in the history of the oil industry.

Mr Etete, as well as oil giants Shell and Eni of Italy, and a number of their former executives, are due to stand trial on various corruption charges relating to OPL245 in Italy on June 20.

It is said to be one of the biggest trials in corporate history.

All the accused deny wrongdoing.

Investigators have spent seven years trying to trace where hundreds of millions of dollars have been stashed.

But in a new twist, Finance Uncovered has found evidence suggesting that Mr Etete may have bought two luxury properties in Dubai after he received more than $800 million from the deal he made with Shell and Eni.

One property is in the exclusive Emirates Hills, known as the “Beverly Hills of Dubai” – the postcode of choice for a host of notorious former presidents, including Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace.

The link to OPL245 was established by an email address found in the property records and that was also in other files seen by Finance Uncovered in a separate investigation into Etete last year.

A business associate of Mr Etete in Dubai also told Finance Uncovered that the former minister had brought millions into the Emirate via an informal money changer.

Mr Etete did not respond to our questions about his property purchases.

His lawyer told Bloomberg last month there was no proof the deal had corrupted Nigerian officials. Mr Etete has also defended himself at length in the Nigerian media.

Barnaby Pace, an anti-corruption campaigner at Global Witness, said: “We know that the criminal and corrupt set up bolt-holes around the world in which to stash their dirty cash, with Dubai being a favoured spot for many.

“New agreements between Nigeria and the UAE to work together to track criminal suspects and their assets go into effect this month. This should be a test case to show whether Nigerian and UAE authorities can act quickly to ensure corruptly obtained assets are recovered for the benefit of the Nigerian people.”

The OPL245 Backstory

As oil minister in the last weeks of the corrupt Abacha military regime in 1998, Mr Etete awarded the prospecting rights to the huge OPL 245 block to Malabu Oil and Gas, a shell company in which he secretly held a major stake.

After years of acrimonious legal wrangling over its ownership, Shell and ENI jointly agreed to buy the block from Malabu for $1.3 billion in April 2011.

The deal was structured so that Shell and ENI would pay the money to the Nigerian government which would then pay $1.1 billion to Malabu.

A long-running investigation by an Italian prosecutor unearthed sufficient evidence for a Milanese judge last year to order the criminal trial of several senior former ENI and Shell executives, plus a host of intermediaries, including former MI6 spies who had been working for Shell, a former Russian diplomat and Etete himself.

The Italian prosecutor alleges the deal was corrupt and that various oilmen, fixers and Nigerian government ministers received tens of millions of dollars in personal kickbacks.

Of the $1.1 billion, Malabu initially received $801.5 million, paid out by the London branch of JP Morgan Chase Bank to two Nigerian bank accounts in August 2011.

Documents seen by Finance Uncovered show that a month later Malabu transferred $336.5 million of this to a Nigerian bank account of a company called Rocky Top Resources Limited.

Rocky Top Resources Ltd is a Nigerian-incorporated company.

These documents also show that Chief D L Etete – an alias of the former minister – issued regular written payment instructions to the bank.

Etete Splashes The Cash
Mr Etete immediately launched into an epic spending spree, according to a cache of OPL245 documents obtained separately by Finance Uncovered last year.

The papers included research from confidential documents from the FBI, which found that Rocky Top Resources made a $54 million payment towards a Bombardier private jet on the same day funds from Malabu were received.

Over the next 18 months, some $34 million would also flow from Rocky Top’s account in Nigeria to various companies and individuals in the United Arab Emirates.

The bulk of this money – $21.5 million – flowed at Etete’s prompting in regular, substantial dollops to a single UAE-registered company, Gunes General Trading LLC.

In May 2012, Mr Etete wrote to the bank handling his Rocky Top account to inform it he would be out of contact for the next fortnight, and that payment confirmation for the sum of $6 million to Gunes General Trading be sent to an email address for a P. Ghaderi.

This email address exactly matches the contact email in the property database obtained by the OCCRP for Dauzia Etete, the owner of an apartment in the Palm Jumeirah’s Marina Residences (Dauzia is Etete’s formal Nigerian first name).

Finance Uncovered also called a UAE mobile listed for the apartment in the leaked property data. It was answered by a man who confirmed he was Ghaderi, and that Mr Etete owned the property.

Mr Ghaderi said he fell out with Mr Etete several years ago but was vague about their precise business relationship.

The Dubai data does not reveal when Mr Etete bought the property but Mr Ghaderi said it was after the OPL245 deal. Nor does the data disclose how much Mr Etete paid for the property, but other apartments in the same block sell for at least $550,000.

That Etete was using some of the proceeds of OPL 245 to pay for Dubai property is also supported by a cluster of other payments Rocky Top made to Dubai in late 2012.

Rocky Top’s bank statements show it paid more than $100,000 to a Dubai home furnishings company, and a $5,284 payment to a Dubai real estate management agency on the same day in December 2012.

A final $1 million payment flowed from Rocky Top to Gunes General Trading a week later.

Mr Ghaderi said that Gunes had been one of Dubai’s many thriving informal money exchange businesses but had left the Emirate recently because the government had started taxing the sector. The U.S. government has cited Gunes separately for handling a $1 million payment in 2013 which violated sanctions against Iran.

Using an Arabic metaphor, Mr Ghaderi said that Mr Etete’s purchase of the Dubai Marina property was “just the ear of the camel” – but would not elaborate further.

The Dubai property leak also shows that as of 2015, a Dauzia Loya Etete owned a mansion in the exclusive Emirates Hills, known as “the Beverley Hills of Dubai” (Loya is Mr Etete’s formal middle name).

The contact for this property is a personal email address for Mr Etete that appears often in the OPL245 investigation documents seen by Finance Uncovered. The email is still active. When Finance Uncovered sent detailed questions to it for this story, the brief response elicited could be traced to an IP address in Dubai.

The mansion shares the Emirates Hills estate with the prestigious Address Montgomerie golf complex, designed by Scotland’s former Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie.

Billed as the most expensive postal code in the city, other Emirates Hills residents have reportedly included members of the Mugabe, Shinawatra, Bhutto and Gupta families (leaked emails from the #GuptaLeaks last year revealed that the Gupta property was at one point intended for the use of former South African president Jacob Zuma).

The property data indicates that Mr Etete’s mansion was worth a “net amount” of $3.4 million.

It is unclear from the data whether this is the amount Mr Etete paid for the property. Asking prices in the area currently range between $5.5 million and $22 million.

The OPL245 trial in Milan is due to start on June 20.

Shell has said it “does not believe there is a basis to convict Shell … [and] is not aware of any evidence to convict any former or current Shell employee.”

Eni has also expressed “total confidence” that neither it or its staff were involved in illegal dealings.

Host Communities Bill May Fuel Unrest In Niger Delta

BY KELVIN EBIRI

Image Via Wiki Commons

NIGER DELTA (THE GUARDIAN)--Except the National Assembly include the payment of royalties to oil producing communities in Petroleum Host Communities Development Trust unrest in the Niger Delta will persist.

Former group general manager, corporate planning and development division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Joseph Ellah, who stated this said it will be difficult to implement the host communities bill when passed into law.

Ellah told The Guardian in Port Harcourt that the assumption that the bill will enhance peaceful and harmonious coexistence between oil companies and host communities was illusionary.

He noted that provisions requiring that the Petroleum Host Community Development Trust shall have an Endowment Fund to which an annual contribution of an amount equal to 5% (five per cent) of profits after tax of any particular oil company accruable from its operations in the particular licence or lease area for which the Petroleum Host Community Development Trust is established was unacceptable.

According to him, the only want to ensure the issue of unrest in the Niger Delta is addressed is to pay royalties to the host communities from the proceeds accruable from oil and gas explored in their land.

"Oil production is causing pollution and total dislocation of the life style of the people who live in the oil producing communes. Therefore, it is necessary that a percentage of royalty be paid to them where the companies produce.

What this bill proposes is 5 percent of operating and capital expenditure of the company operating in that area the previous year. But this is something you can hardly calculate"

"What the Niger Delta people are looking for is payment for the oil produced in their land. This bill says nothing about it, hence, making it worst than what was provided in the first Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) where they talked about 10 percent net revenue" he said.

He argued that the bill provided that in the constitution of the Petroleum Host Communities Development Trust executive management committee which shall take charge of the responsibility of managing and supervising the application and utilizatiòn of the annual contribution of the oil companies and other sources of funding , it is not mandatory for the companies to nominate persons from the host communities into the board.

He explained In a situation whereby oil producing communities in the Niger Delta have been agitating over years to have stakes in the operation of the resources in their land, it will amount to insensitivity to allow the oil companies to become the sole determinants of who becomes an executive member of the fund management committee.

According to him, if the companies will be the ones to appoint members of a board to finance and execute projects for the benefit and sustainable development of the host communities, it therefore means that the status quo is being sustained and strengthened.

Ellah wondered how a board which does not comprise of persons from the host communities be enjoy support of a possible local initiatives that enhance protection of the environment and security in the Niger Delta where relationship between most host communities and the oil companies have been frosty.

He stated that if the bill is passed into law without a review of its present content, it will create a lot of crisis in the Niger Delta oil producing communities that it will be difficult for the oil companies to operate.

He stressed that the bill was too vague in certain areas that it might even be difficult for the oil companies to interpret the bill.

He insisted that the participation of the oil producing communities in terms of equity stake in the companies operating in their locality should be clearly engrained in the bill to give the communities for once a sense of belonging.

The bill proposes incorporation of Petroleum Host Communities Development Trusts by every company or collectivity of companies with sole or joint equity interest in a licence to prospect for petroleum or licensees of designated midstream or downstream assets whose area of operations are located in or appurtenant to any community or communities, for the benefit of the community or communities within such area of operation.

Sinopec Probed ByThe U.S. Over Nigeria Payments

BY HUGO MILLER AND TOM SCHOENBERG

BLOOMBERG, AUGUST 30, 2017

U.S. authorities are investigating China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. over allegations that the state-controlled oil producer paid Nigerian officials about $100 million worth of bribes to resolve a business dispute, according to people familiar with the probe.

Investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Departmentare looking into allegations that outside lawyers acting as middlemen for the company, known as Sinopec, funneled illicit payments from its Swiss unit to the Nigerians through banks in New York and California, said the two people, who didn’t want to be named discussing an active investigation.

The alleged payments were intended to resolve a $4 billion dispute between the Chinese oil company’s Addax Petroleum unit in Geneva and the Nigerian government over drilling and other capital costs, tax breaks and a division of royalties between Addax and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the people said.

The U.S. probes are in their early stages, and no action is imminent, one of the people said. The SEC is handling its inquiry through its Los Angeles office, and the Justice Department investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in that city, the person said. At least one Washington-based prosecutor from the Justice Department unit that investigates potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has traveled to Los Angeles to conduct interviews, the people said.

Sinopec’s American depositary receipts dropped 1.2 percent on the news and were up 1 percent to $75.84 at 1:45 p.m. in New York.

Spokesmen for the SEC and the Justice Department declined to comment. A Sinopec spokesman at the company’s Beijing headquarters also declined to comment.
Swiss Probe

Sinopec, the world’s biggest oil refiner, is one of the largest foreign state-owned enterprises to be investigated by U.S. prosecutors. The probes renew scrutiny of a matter that the Swiss had closed after a short inquiry. In July, Swiss authorities required Sinopec to pay 31 million Swiss francs ($32 million) in damages after admitting to organizational deficiencies.

The matter springs from Sinopec’s biggest acquisition. The Chinese company boughtAddax in 2009 for about $7.8 billion to build a corporate presence in Geneva, a commodity-trading hub, and to expand its oil production in Africa.

Addax operated in Nigeria under a deal with the government. From 2001, Addax benefited from a Side Letter agreement that granted it tax breaks and reimbursements for capital costs, according to a person familiar with details of the contract. Around 2014, Nigerian authorities decided that the Side Letter should no longer apply and demanded that Addax repay about $3 billion of past benefits, the person said.

By the end of that year, according to the person, Addax had filed a lawsuit against the government to protest that decision. It also sought reimbursement of at least $1 billion, contending that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had taken more than its share of crude allotments -- a practice known as “overlifting.”
Deloitte’s Disclosure

Allegations of bribery surfaced in January of this year after Deloitte said in a public filing that it had resigned as Addax’s auditor because it couldn’t obtain “satisfactory explanations” for $80 million paid to an engineering company for Nigerian construction projects in 2015. Deloitte said that amount appeared excessive for the work performed “and their purpose and timing raise issues which have not been resolved.”

On May 25, 2015, shortly after many of those payments were made, Addax and the Nigerian government reached a settlement that was approved by the Nigerian High Court, the person familiar with the matter said. Sahara Reporters, a news organization in Nigeria, reported that former President Goodluck Jonathan, with just three days left in office, approved the settlement at the urging of Attorney General Mohammed Bello Adoke.

The agreement validated the original terms of the Side Letter, effectively nullifying Nigeria’s demand that Addax repay $3 billion, the person said. It’s unclear if there’s any other litigation pending between Addax and Nigeria.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Jonathan’s successor, left the original terms of the Side Letter intact but planned to revoke its terms effective Jan. 1, 2016, according to a person familiar with the deal. That would deny Addax at least $1 billion in future benefits and end reimbursement claims.

Flagged Payments

Deloitte had also flagged in its filing additional Addax payments from 2015 exceeding $20 million, made to “legal advisers” in Nigeria and the U.S from bank accounts in Nigeria and the Isle of Man, a British crown dependency. The auditing firm said it had “received a number of whistle-blowing allegations from within and outside Addax, some of which allege that such payments have been made to bribe foreign government officials and that certain amounts have been embezzled by certain members of management within Addax Petroleum Group.”

An official in Buhari’s office directed inquiries to the NNPC and the Justice Ministry. Spokesmen for the NNPC and Nigeria’s Justice Ministry didn’t respond to multiple messages seeking comment.

The case burst open in February when Geneva prosecutor Yves Bertossa began a probe into Deloitte’s allegations. Swiss law enforcement officials raided the Geneva offices of Addax in March. Addax CEO Zhang Yi and Chief Legal Officer Guus Klusener were jailed under preventative detention, as allowed under Swiss law. They were released three weeks later, a spokesman for the Geneva prosecutor said.

Barely four months later, Bertossa closed the probe. Neither the company nor its executives were charged. Bertossa criticized the company for what he called sloppy accounting, but said that no criminal intent could be established. He also said that Addax had taken steps to overhaul its staffing and anti-corruption processes.

Saverio Lembo, a lawyer for Zhang, declined to comment. Klusener’s lawyer, Vincent Spira, didn’t return calls seeking comment.
Nigerian Lawyer

U.S. authorities are looking into whether payments handled by an unidentified Nigerian lawyer who is a member of the California bar were used to pay some of the alleged bribes, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. The lawyer was hired to advise Addax executives on the terms of the settlement with the Nigerian government, the person said.

It’s unclear what effect a U.S. probe might have on the rest of Sinopec’s U.S. operations. The company’s shares began trading in Hong Kong, London and New York in 2000. Sinopec also rents an oil terminal in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A month after the Swiss probe ended, Sinopec announced on Aug. 8 that it would shut down Addax’s operations in Geneva along with offices in Aberdeen, Scotland, and Houston by the end of this year.

— With assistance by Aibing Guo, Matt Robinson, Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, and Sophie Mongalvy

Why Investors Shun Nigeria’s Oil Industry

BY SEBASTINE OBASI

VANGUARD, AUGUST 22, 2017

Ibe Kachikwu

FOREIGN investors appear to be finding Nigeria’s oil industry unattractive due to the high cost of production, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, stated.

Speaking at the 2017 annual conference of National Association Energy Correspondents, in Lagos, Kachikwu decried the high cost of oil production in the country which has made cost of foreign direct investment, FDI, very expensive.

 The minister, who put the cost of producing a barrel of oil at $32, however, said that government is expediting action to bring down cost of production to $15 per barrel to significantly bring down cost of FDI. The minister noted that the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, has been structured to fully turn around the petroleum sector and make it attractive to investors.

 Kachikwu deplored the challenging security issues and funding gap in the area of refinery which according to him have delayed takeoff of refinery projects even after licenses have been issued. He regretted that after the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has issued about 40 licenses only two projects are currently being developed.

The minister was however optimistic that the PIGB will bring about fiscal regime that is flexible, promote gas utilisation and enhance local content as well as restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for enhanced productivity.

 Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru explained that the PIGB largely reflects the aspirations of the industry for the emplacement of an effective policy, commercial and regulatory framework that promotes growth and efficient operations.

 Baru however observed that there other issues in the bill that need to be immediately addressed before it is finally sent to the President for assent. 

For that to happen he urged stakeholders to take advantage of the opportunity to seek clarity and where possible propose changes to ensure that what is signed into law accomplishes the main purpose of reforming the industry for the collective good.

We're Interested In Nigeria's Oil, Gas -- Britain

VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS (NIGERIA)

JULY 23, 2017

A Nigerian Oil Worker. Image: Getty

Britain has expressed its interest in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. It expressed its readiness to invest in pipeline infrastructure, renewable energy, gas and power of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.

British High Commissioner, Mr. Paul Arkwright, made this promise when the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, visited the Chancery of British High Commission in Abuja. 

Mr. Arkwright noted that the British Government had genuine investment interest in the Downstream, Midstream and Upstream sectors, stressing that the British Department for International Trade was ready to liaise with the Federal Government to invest in the country. 

The High Commissioner also urged the Federal Government and the NNPC to organize a road show in London to create awareness on the possible investment opportunities available in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector. 

Mr. Arkwright said so many British investors had funds which they were willing to invest in Nigeria, stressing, however, that the process of obtaining Nigerian visa in United Kingdom was cumbersome with three different levels of visa procurement fees as well as Nigeria’s postal order system.

 NNPC’s spokesman, Mr. Ughamadu, on behalf of the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, condoled with the British Government over the recent terror attacks in the United Kingdom. 

Ughamadu, who lead the NNPC delegation, commended the High Commissioner for the Commission’s promptness in issuing visas to officials of the Corporation. He assured that NNPC would sustain the cordial relations.

REFILE-IMF Says Nigeria Economy Needs Urgent Reform, No FX Curbs

REUTERS

APRIL 5, 2017

(Refiles to clarify attribution in paragraph 13)

* Nigeria in first recession in 25 years

* Naira overvalued by 10-20 pct -IMF

* Nigeria authorities concerned about IMF view -IMF

ABUJA, April 5 (REUTERS) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Nigeria its economy needs urgent reform in a report published on Wednesday that highlighted the risks to growth for the recession-hit country and the dangers of a volatile foreign exchange market.

The document, a report from IMF staff which Reuters saw an earlier version of last month, outlines a raft of failings in Nigeria's handling of Africa's largest economy and could affect talks over at least $1.4 billion in international loans.

It strikes a more critical tone than the Fund's board adopted in a statement last week, though that also said Nigeria should lift its remaining foreign exchange restrictions and scrap its system of multiple exchange rates.

Nigeria fell into recession in 2016, its first in 25 years, largely due to the impact of low oil prices and militant attacks on energy facilities in the Niger Delta oil hub. Crude sales account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings and two-thirds of government revenue.

The country, whose economy contracted 1.5 percent last year, has also been plagued by a conflict with Boko Haram militants since 2009, creating a humanitarian crisis in the northeast which authorities are struggling to handle.

The Washington-based fund's analysis came on the same day that Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari held a launch ceremony for a flagship economic recovery plan.

But the IMF said the plan, criticised by economists for including few concrete measures, is not enough to drag Africa's biggest economy out of recession.

If Nigeria's economy is to recover, "much more needs to be done", the IMF said in the staff report.

It also urged the major oil producer to introduce immediate changes to its exchange rate policy - characterised by central bank curbs, multiple exchange rates and an artificially high naira valuation - or risk "a disorderly exchange rate depreciation".

That naira overvaluation is "somewhere to the tune of 10 to 20 percent," Gene Leon, IMF mission chief for Nigeria, said in a separate telephone media briefing.

Additionally, Nigeria's 2017 projections for non-oil revenues are more optimistic than the IMF's, and authorities need to increase tax levels to diversify its income, said Leon.

The presidency, budget and planning ministry, finance ministry and central bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Africa constituency executive director at the Fund said the Nigerian authorities were concerned about the IMF staff report's view. That director represents and speaks on behalf of member countries.

Nigerian authorities had said further measures were under way which included the implementation of a more flexible foreign exchange market and "maintaining tight monetary policy to underpin price stability", according to the IMF report.

Nigeria has not asked the Fund for fiscal support but its recommendations may influence institutional lenders ahead of the annual spring meetings with the World Bank.

The World Bank has been in talks with Nigeria for more than a year over an application for a loan of at least $1 billion and the African Development Bank has $400 million on offer. But talks have stalled over economic reforms. (Reporting by Paul Carsten in Abuja and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos; Editing by Alison Williams and Stephen Powell)

Nigeria Doesn’t Know Exactly How Much Oil It Produces, But Is Pretty Sure $17 Billion Is Missing

BY CHRIS STEIN

Nigeria is unable to accurately account for all the oil it produces. (AP Photo/George Osodi)

Nigeria’s president has claimed “mind-boggling” sums have been stolen from the country’s oil industry. Just how much is now becoming clear.

Lawmaker in the House of Representatives Johnson Agbonayinma alleged last month that $17 billion in oil and liquefied natural gas was exported from Nigeria without being properly declared between 2011 and 2014.

It was the latest allegation of multibillion-dollar graft directed at Nigeria’s oil industry. Nigeria has long been Africa’s top-oil producer, and oil proceeds make up 90% of the country’s exports and a large part of its budget.

The reliance on oil revenue dragged Nigeria’s economy into hard times when the price of crude on the global market started dropping in 2014. The situation worsened earlier this year when militants began sabotaging pipelines in the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta.

As a result, production fell to around 1.5 million barrels per-day from its normal level of over two million barrels, and the country officially entered a recession in the second quarter of this year.

President Muhammadu Buhari has cast himself as a corruption fighter and claimed that the petroleum industry is riddled with graft.

The government believes international oil companies are at least partially responsible for the missing money. In a series of lawsuits filed earlier this year, Nigeria claimed several oil majors, including American firm Chevron and Italy’s Eni, didn’t declare $12.7 billion worth of crude and natural gas exports.

How could a foreign company make off with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of petroleum without declaring it? The answer, analysts say, lies in the unique deficiencies of Nigeria’s oil infrastructure.

Nigeria doesn’t measure its oil production based on how much individual oil wells produce, but rather how much oil leaves through its export terminals, says Dolapo Oni, head of energy research at Ecobank. That approach is vulnerable to undercounting.

Faulty or non-existent meters on pipelines and wellheads occasionally lead to disputes between well and pipeline operators over how much oil an individual well is sending through a pipeline.

And thieves have also been known to tap into pipelines and syphon off oil, either to refine or just to sell.

If pipelines and wellheads had meters, Oni said regulators would be better able to track where Nigeria’s oil is going, and figure out exactly how much oil the country produces.

“That’s part of where the corruption in industry is, because once the metering is done, there’ll be no more gaps or loopholes,” Oni said. “If we had efficient metering, there’s no way either party would be lying.”

Nigeria Officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute Dauda Garuba says oil companies have rejected calls to put meters on oil infrastructure, saying it would be too expensive.

But Nigeria’s government hasn’t pulled its weight either, Garuba said.

The Petroleum Industry Bill would reform Nigeria’s oil sector but has languished in the national assembly for years. One of those reforms could be to mandate metering on all segments of the oil supply chain, Garuba said.

“For me, I think they’ve been sleeping on their rights and their responsibility forever,” Garuba said of the lawmakers. “It’s also getting worrisome that each time you hear of scandals like this, nothing gets to come of it.”

Filing lawsuits would solve one immediate need for Nigeria’s government—cash. The government is in desperate need of new revenue, and plans to borrow billions from lenders like the World Bank and African Development Bank to fund its budget.

Payouts from these lawsuits would go a long way to funding the $30 billion the country wants to spend this year, Oni said.

“The government is just broke and willing to go through every transaction in the oil and gas business to make sure that if there’s any money that they didn’t earn, they can get it now,” Oni said.

Nigeria Naira Firmer On Unofficial Market As C.Bank Tightens Forex Rules

REUTERS

(Adds quotes, details, background)

Nov 26 The Nigerian naira strengthened 2.1 percent to 235 per dollar on the unofficial market on Thursday after the central bank moved to enforce documentation requirements on bureau de change operators prior to dollar sales, traders said.

In a circular seen by Reuters on Thursday, the central bank asked all bureau de change (BDCs) operators to submit accounts showing their dollar usage at the start of each week before they can access future sales, a move traders say was aimed at curbing speculation.

The naira had fallen sharply on Wednesday, a day after the central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates to stimulate lending in Africa's biggest economy, traders said.

The currency was quoted at the pegged rate of 197 naira on the official interbank market on Thursday.

"It has been observed that a good number of bureaux de change purchased foreign exchange from the central bank without rendering returns on their utilisation," the bank said

The central bank has introduced currency controls to stop the naira weakening, defying calls to further devalue the currency hard hit by the plunge in global crude prices.

The bank asked BDCs to immediately return all forex bought at its Wednesday auction without documents to show how they used previous purchases. It cut dollar supply to BDCs last week to conserve its dwindling foreign exchange reserves. (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Dominic Evans)

Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Age, Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Strategic jitters have pushed Brent crude prices to a five month high of $US112 a barrel. Photo: Jessica Shapiro



Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.

The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warships poised for missile strikes against Syria, and Iran threatening to retaliate. The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $US112 a barrel.

‘‘We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think,’’ said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.

Leaked transcripts of a behind closed doors meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.

 

 Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria.

‘‘Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets,’’ he is claimed to have said at the four-hour meeting with Mr Putin.

‘‘We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,’’ he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.

The talks appear to offer an alliance between the OPEC cartel and Russia, which together produce more than 40 million barrels a day of oil, 45 per cent of global output. Such a move would alter the strategic landscape.

The details of the talks were leaked to the Russian press. A more detailed version has since appeared in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which has Hizbollah links and is hostile to the Saudis.

As-Safir said Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord.

‘‘I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the Games are controlled by us,’’ he allegedly said.

Prince Bandar went on to say that Chechens operating in Syria were a pressure tool that could be switched on and off.

‘‘We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role in Syria’s political future.’’
President Putin has long been pushing for a global gas cartel, issuing the ‘‘Moscow Declaration’’ last month to ‘‘defend suppliers and resist unfair pressure’’.

Mr Skrebowski said it is unclear what the Saudis can really offer the Russians on gas, beyond using leverage over Qatar and others to cut output of liquefied natural gas.

Saudi Arabia could help boost oil prices by restricting its own supply. This would be a shot in the arm for Russia, but it would be a dangerous strategy if it pushed prices to levels that put the global economic recovery at risk. Mr Skrebowski said trouble is brewing in supply states.

‘Libya is reverting to war lordism. Nigeria is drifting into a bandit state with steady loss of output. And Iraq is going back to the sort of Sunni-Shia civil war we saw in 2006-07,’’ he said.

The Putin-Bandar meeting took place three weeks ago. Mr Putin was unmoved by the Saudi offer.
‘‘We believe that the Syrian regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those liver eaters,’’ he said, referring to footage showing a Jihadist rebel eating the heart and liver of a Syrian soldier.

Prince Bandar said that there can be ‘‘no escape from the military option’’ if Russia declines the olive branch. Events are unfolding exactly as he foretold.

Saudis, Iraq Cut Oil Exports as Venezuela Shipments Surge

By Wael Mahdi, Bloomberg, February 17, 2013

Iraq and Saudi Arabia cut crude oil exports in December for a second month, while fellow OPEC member Venezuela boosted shipments to their highest in more than four years, according to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative.

Iraq, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, curtailed exports by 10 percent to 2.35 million barrels a day, data posted today on the initiative’s website showed. The Saudi kingdom shipped 7.06 million barrels a day in the month, down 1.3 percent from November, according to the data.

Venezuela increased crude shipments in December by 19 percent to 1.97 million barrels a day, the most since July 2008, when it exported 2.24 million, the initiative known as JODI said, citing statistics that member governments submitted to the 12-nation group. OPEC supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil.

Nigeria boosted shipments by 14 percent during the month to 2.29 million barrels a day, and Angola raised exports by 5.6 percent to 1.7 million a day. Kuwait’s exports in December were little changed at 2.06 million, JODI data showed. Algeria’s shipments slipped 5.5 percent to 685,000 barrels a day, according to the initiative.

Iran, Libya and the United Arab Emirates didn’t submit monthly data.

JODI, supervised by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum, uses statistics supplied by national governments to compile data on imports, exports and output for oil-producing and consuming nations. The data include crude oil and condensates and exclude natural gas liquids.

2013: A year of recovery for Nigeria's oil industry

2012 was arguably a year that Nigeria’s oil industry may wish to forget. The country’s oil output was slashed by one fifth in the last quarter of the year, thanks to a large fire caused by a theft in September. The theft resulted in Royal Dutch Shell Plc eventually having to shut down a major pipeline. Furthermore, a leak at an Exxon Shell facility caused a severe oil spill that spanned more than 20 miles of coastline. Couple these devastating events with the country’s severe floods, and its oil industry was in dismay. By the end of the year, Nigeria had made headlines all over the world for its string of oil catastrophes.

Stability

However, a new year brings new hope for the country, which recently stated that it expects oil production to stabilise throughout the next 12 months. Last month, the country’s oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, announced that Nigeria is aiming to continue producing around 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in 2013 and that oil output had recovered since the year’s catastrophic events. “I expect it at least to stabilise [next year],” she said. “The problems have been flooding and bunkering and some vandalism which have disrupted pipeline services.”

New oil rig

This week it was also announced that an offshore oil field, Aje Gas and Condensate Field, will be ready to start oil production by 2014. The important oil field, which is situated approximately 43 kilometres off the coast of Lagos in the Benin Basin, will produce somewhere in the region of 50,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil per day. This will account for up to three percent of the country’s total daily oil output, and will be a significant step forward in achieving stability for the industry’s future.

The new Aje Gas oil field lies within an area of 960 square kilometres, which is now referred to as the Oil Mining Lease 113. Previously known as the Oil Operating Licence 309, the area was assigned to Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Ltd in order to improve the country’s oil industry growth in 1991. It has since been a major force in Nigeria’s increase in oil output.

Future prospects

The OML 113 zone holds exciting prospects for the future of the Nigerian oil industry. In addition to the Aje Gas field, there have also been several other major oil field discoveries, including the Jubilee and the Tweneboa fields; the former is thought to be the largest oil field discovery in West Africa within the last 10 – 15 years. It was estimated by Tullow Oil in 2010 that these two fields contain around 2.9 billion barrels of oil and gas; both fields signify a bright future for Nigeria, which hopes to remain Africa’s largest crude oil exporter.

Cleaning up controversy

Nigeria also looks set to clean up its act in oil exportation, following the revelation in October that the country had lost billions of dollars in cut-price oil deals. The damning report revealed that deals struck between government officials and multinational oil companies had cost the country’s economy tens of billions of dollars over ten years. Among the report’s content were claims that Nigerian oil ministers had issued oil licenses at their discretion rather than using an open bid system, and the sale of oil at slashed prices had led to significant savings and huge profits for oil giants such as Shell, Eni and Total. While the report stated that there had not been any illegal activity, it did show a grave lack of transparency in oil transactions; in many cases it was found that deals were being made without any contracts, and that some debts due on royalties remained unpaid. The report concluded that “the estimated cumulative of the deficit between value obtainable on the international market and what is currently being obtained from NLNG, over the 10 year period, amounts to approximately $29 billion.”

Greater transparency

Oil minister, Alison-Madueke, denied many of the report’s claims over discretionary licensing, saying that a tender was issued in a public newspaper every year that all companies are invited to bid for. However, in response to various reports of corrupt practice, regulators from the United States introduced new regulations back in August that will require all U.S listed oil and gas organisations to disclose all payments that are being made to foreign governments; it is hoped that this will have a positive impact on Nigeria’s oil income from 2013 onwards. The Nigerian report recommends that a similar law should be introduced requiring traders from all countries to disclose payments made to the country, in order to ensure the utmost transparency going forward.

.......EVE PEARCE/OIL VOICE

The problem with cheap oil

Prices that low -- and their equivalents at the gas pump -- will no doubt be viewed as a godsend by many hard-hit American consumers, even if they ensure severe economic hardship in oil-producing countries like Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Kuwait, and Venezuela that depend on energy exports for a large share of their national income. Here, however, is a simple but crucial reality to keep in mind: No matter how much it costs, whether it's rising or falling, oil has a profound impact on the world we inhabit -- and this will be no less true in 2009 than in 2008. READ MORE>>>

News Desk (Early Edition) Tuesday, October 7, 2008

We are curbing crude oil theft - Military

Nigeria’s military assured on Monday it was making significant progress curbing crude oil theft, an illegal trade worth millions of dollars a day and the financial lifeline for militants in Africa’s top producer. MORE>>>

Ribadu: Sacrifice on the Nigerian altar

John Adams, son of Deacon and Susanna Adams and the first American president to live in the White House prayed with his wife, Abigail, as they entered into the lavish U.S. presidential residence on November 1, 1800 that “Lord, bestow the best of blessings on this house MORE>>>

Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index

Togo, Sao Tome and Principe tied with Nigeria in the 121st place. At the top of the list three countries tied for the first place, namely, Denmark, Sweden MORE>>>

North has World's highest illiterate children —World Bank

ABUJA—The Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit, kicked off in Abuja yesterday with the World Bank, saying that Northern Nigeria has the highest number of children not going to School in the world. MORE>>>

Yar'Adua's secrecy oath, slap on Nigerians — Mudiaga-Odje

CONSTITUTIONAL Lawyer, Dr. Akpo Mudiaga-Odje, has described the oath of secrecy on some public officers appointed by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as a slap on the face of the entire Nigerian citizenry. MORE>>>

10 Nigerians begin economic dev. training in S/Korea

A News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ) Correspondent in Seoul reports that the programme is sponsored by the South Korean government to complement President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s seven point agenda in the area of Human Capacity Development. MORE>>>

Nigeria in Brief Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Nigeria will never seize to amaze me. Some say Naija is great while some dwell on the fact that the country is still a jungle where it is only the fittest that survives. Checking out the news of the day and looking at the picture captured by Vanguard, I wondered what must have driven James Ibori supporters to Kaduna protesting and demanding for the corrupt politician's release. The Ibori supporters should have been arrested for disturbing the peace at a courthouse where silence is normally golden. Well, that's politics, I guess. But the question here is, have these angry supporters of Ibori taken a closer look at themselves, how haggard they looked while Ibori was squandering their money? Now who is next among the two notorious bandits? Peter Odili or Lucky Igbinedion?

Anyways, I am beginning to see some changes unfold in that country. The rule of law seems to be taking shape with the judiaciary making a whole lot of sense. Ibori had been denied bail, but the point is, Ibori and his mistress Uzoamaka Okoronkwo's charges are bailable and they will be spending the Christmas and New Year in jail. The embattled ex-Governor and his mistress will know their fate on January 11, 2008, when they return to court to face Justice Mohammed Shauibu. The so-called former "intelligence Czar" seems to be chilling which pops up the question why he should be denied his medication on the ground that he stole from the state and used his powers to deny the people of Delta a proper medical care. He should be allowed to get a taste of his own medicine.

Check this out: The Guardian Newspapers reports that the administration of Umar Yar'Adua has ordered a "massive importation of fuel" to meet up with demands during the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Ain't that something? I'm not sure if the refineries are not producing enough oil but I'm quite sure something is wrong somewhere when the oil regulating agencies are not coming up to terms with reality knowing that they should be held responsible for the loopholes that enables oil pirates and bunkerers get away with billion barrels of oil per day. In another related incident, ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose was also remanded in prison custody until January when he will know his fate and the charges levelled against him.

Interestingly, China and Egypt, once borrowers from International Development Association (IDA) that help poor nations fight poverty are now donors and part of a $21.1 billion aid that would make life meaningful to the poorer nations. When will the "oil-rich" Nigeria join these group of volunteers? My guess is NEVER! Maybe, until Ibrahim Babangida coughs out all the billions of dollars he stole selling oil during the Gulf War.

In the upcoming African Nations Cup to be held in Ghana, a whole lot of noise is being made about the Nigerian squad hanging in there with all desperations to capture the trophy for the first time since 1994 when the iron man, Sani Abacha was the junta of the day. Watford's Danny Shittu will be joining the Eagles squad as the Golden Eagles are not about to be taking any chances. I think Ghana has better chances with home advantage.

Well, Yar'Adua is talking. From last weekend's local council elections that was marred with irregularities, the nation's first man is no longer taking things for granted. He has summoned the 36 state governors, stakeholders and party leaders to a meeting regarding allegations of fraud in the said elections held on Saturday, December, 15, 2007.

The Slums and Nigeria Oil Money

No question, the entrapment called Nigeria is well known in the oil business it is one of world's biggest supplier of oil. That image of oil has set up a tone that Nigeria is a very rich country bubbling with life portrayed by the haves, even though when one takes a close look at the changing phases and events of the common man, bogus businessmen and government officials to see how oil has controlled and doomed the country in its entirety, the country is nothing but a jungle despite its oil wealth and its enormous human capital.

With all that oil, the nation seems to be underdeveloped and moving backward by the day, with the above picture of Njemanze Waterfront in Port Harcout, the hub of the nation's oil well taken by Candace Feit of New York Times. In President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's presentation of the 2008 budget he projected a total revenue of N1.96 trillion in which eighty percent of that will come from crude oil sales with a "presumed exchange rate of N117 to the US $1."




So, Mr President, how about the slums in the neck of the wood where oil is produced? What are you going to do about it? Would there be another Fela Anikulapo Kuti to tell it in your face that corruption has eaten the entire nation it is now baked in every Nigerian gene? Apparently, the oil boom is not ending anytime soon since war here and there has catapulted oil sales, once again to the top.

Nevertheless, the poisonous substance called oil has created all sorts of characters in Nigeria which is disturbing and bizarre. Nobody wants to get anything done but to engage in mysterious underground economy, using oil as a tool that fuels bitter conflicts often seen in the Niger-Delta crisis which indeed has destroyed any hope of ordinary development. The above picture speaks for itself.