EFCC, DSS begin fresh probes on Illegal oil lifting

… As N’Assembly insists Buhari was misled over N47bn lawmakers’ exotic cars

There are strong indications that the Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are conducting fresh investigations into illegal lifting of the country’s crude oil between 2007 and 2015.

It was learnt on Friday that the agencies were focusing on 113 vessels that the Federal Government banned last July from lifting Nigeria’s crude oil.

The EFCC, as part of its investigation into oil theft, had in June last year quizzed some top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

A source in the DSS, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that the fresh investigations were aimed at getting “strong evidence” against companies involved in oil theft to ensure diligent prosecution.

The source stated that the DSS would submit its findings to the Ministry of Justice after the investigation.

“The investigations are to ensure that we block loopholes so that we will have a good case when the trial begins,” he said.

It was gathered that an inter-agency committee, which the Federal Government set up in July last year to collect data on 113 vessels, had submitted its report to the government.

The committee consisting the DSS, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency; Nigerian Navy, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Department of Petroleum Resources was mandated to collect data on 113 vessels, which the government in July banned from lifting Nigeria’s crude oil.

It was learnt that the government had forwarded the report of the inter-agency committee to the DSS and EFCC, with the aim of probing the activities of the affected companies.

Although the DSS source, who confided in one of our correspondents, declined to name the companies, he said that some of them belonged to powerful politicians in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The NNPC had in July banned 113 vessels from lifting Nigeria’s crude oil.

According to reports, the embargo was not unconnected with abuses that had characterised crude oil lifting in the past.

The ban, it was gathered, was aimed at sending a strong signal to those who were engaging in illegal lifting of crude oil.

But in September, the NNPC lifted the embargo placed on the 113 vessels and set-up the inter-agency committee.

The corporation had, in a statement, explained that the embargo was lifted following the receipt of letters of comforts from the affected companies that their vessels would not be used for illegal activities.

Findings showed that some of the vessels, in order to hide their illegal activities, had documents in Chinese, Russian and French.

It was also gathered that the inter-agency committee, in its report, explained activities of illegal crude oil lifters.

These include tapping into crude pipelines or directly tapping the wellhead by removing the Christmas Tree, (a structure on the wellhead).

Holes, which are used in siphoning crude oil into small barges, are attached to the wellheads.

Last year, the EFCC had invited a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company and three other executive directors of the NNPC in relation to lifting of oil without payment.

Officials of the NDPC, who were grilled, were alleged to have said that they released crude oil to some firms on the instruction of a former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, but the minister was said to have denied the claim.

Attempts to get the EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, did not succeed as calls to his mobile telephone did not connect. Also, the DSS could not be reached as it had yet to get a spokesperson.

But when contacted, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, on Friday confirmed that investigations into oil theft were going on.

He, however, said that the trial of suspected looters of oil revenue was being delayed because of the need for investigators to gather sufficient evidence that could secure conviction.

Malami, speaking on the telephone with one of our correspondents, said no specific time for the trial of the suspects to commence could be given due to ongoing efforts to ensure that comprehensive investigation was carried out.

He said, “Nobody can tell you with certainty when trial will begin. But definitely it must come to pass. There is no doubt about it.

“There is no way you can go to court with a half-baked case, your case must be fully baked before you go to court but that entails comprehensive investigation and getting the required proof of evidence to support your case to enable you to eventually win the case.”

When asked about the stages of the investigations, he said, “I do not understand whether investigation has stages, but investigations are on and aggressive for that matter and to be concluded within the shortest possible time.”

Malami also said that efforts were being made to ensure expeditious determination of the cases when they get to court.

He said, “This time around whichever case we take to court, we will make sure that it is expeditiously determined. So by the time we take off, we expect immediate and aggressive prosecution that will yield result. Time is of essence as far as prosecution is concerned.”

Meanwhile, the National Assembly on Sunday said its members were eager to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the President’s “claim” that the National Assembly planned to spend over N47bn to buy exotic cars this year.

The House of Representatives, on its part, stated that a meeting with Buhari would put the records straight on how the President got his figure, since the legislature had not contemplated “making such a mind-boggling” expenditure.

Buhari had, during his maiden Presidential Media Chat on Wednesday last week, wondered that the National Assembly planned to buy cars worth over N47bn, in addition to taking car loans and generous transport allowances.

“I can’t see the National Assembly spending more than N47bn to buy cars on top of transport allowance they collect.

“I have to revisit that story. The budget for their transport allowance comes up to N100bn. With the kind of money that goes into the National Assembly, we have to look at it conscientiously and see how we can live within our means,” he had said.

Buhari announced that he would hold a closed-door meeting with the legislators to discuss the issue.

However, both the Senate and the House of Representatives in their separate reactions less than 24 hours after the media chat, denied that there was a plan to buy cars worth the amount the President quoted.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Sunday, House Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, said the members were prepared to meet with the President, where the lawmakers planned to ask him how he arrived at the figure.

Ogor stated that since making the announcement last week, there had been no communication from the Presidency on when the meeting would take place.

But he told The PUNCH that members were willing to meet with the President to address the “misinformation for the purpose of avoiding needless crises.”

He added, “There is no meeting fixed that I am aware of for now.

“But, as a House, we welcome discussions with Mr. President to avoid unnecessary frictions.”

The minority leader also pointed out that the President made “several assumptions” about his powers, especially in relation to the power of appropriation.

According to him, Buhari, during the chat, seemed to assume that all the proposals of the executive in the 2016 budget of N6.08tn were sacrosanct and did not require any scrutiny by the National Assembly.

“We advise that, in keeping with the principle of separation of powers, he should read sections 4,5,6 and 80 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) jointly for clearer understanding of which arm of government has the power of appropriation.

“All that is contained in the entire budget remains a mere proposal until approved by the National Assembly the way it deems fit,” he added.

Ogor added that the National Assembly too would need to be convinced why the Presidency proposed to buy cars worth about N3.5bn this year.

He argued that while nobody raised eyebrows over the Presidency’s budget on cars, a “non-existing” figure of N47bn was quoted for the National Assembly as its planned expenditure on exotic cars this year.

The lawmaker stated, “The Presidency proposed to buy cars for almost N3.5bn, there is electrical wiring of almost N300m.

“There are so many proposals in the Presidency’s budget that we think should be subjected to thorough discussions. Some of the proposals in the Presidency’s budget may not even stand.

“Where we are not convinced, we will remove and take some sub-heads to areas we think they are needed.”

He claimed that Buhari took the wrong step my starting a “media war” with the National Assembly in his first media chat.

The lawmaker observed that the option of opening discussions with the National Assembly on issues he might not have been “adequately briefed on” should have preceded the media war.

Also, the Senate spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said the red chamber was prepared to meet with Buhari on the proposed plan by the National Assembly to purchase official vehicles for the 469 federal lawmakers.

Abdullahi told one of our correspondents on the telephone that media reports on the issue, which quoted various sums of money being the cost of procuring the vehicles, actually misled members of the public on the issue.

He explained that the exact amount that the vehicles would cost could not be determined by the National Assembly at the moment because the contract for their procurement had not been awarded.

He added, “We in the Senate are ready and prepared to meet with the President on the issue. There is no way we can exercise our legislative functions especially in the area of oversight, using our personal cars.

“We need official vehicles to move around the country because we do not have to rely on government agencies under our supervision for such logistics if we really have to carry out an unbiased exercise.

“Nigerians should also note that we are not asking for too much by requesting Sport Utility Vehicles as official vehicles because there is no senator or member of the House of Representatives that cannot afford one. So, to us it’s not a luxury but a necessity to do our work better. “

Abdullahi appealed to Nigerians, especially the media, to cooperate with members of the National Assembly in the task of performing its constitutional roles of providing necessary checks and balances for effective governance.

Upshot with additional report from Punch