Nuhu Ribadu, Stepehn Oronsaye and Ben Oti Fight Openly …Before President Jonathan

 

A prolonged drama played out at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday as the Chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task force, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and two members of the committee – Mr. Stephen Oronsaye and Mr. Ben Oti – openly disagreed about the process that produced the report and its reliability.

An international news agency, Reuters, had last week quoted extensively from the report, which it described as confidential in a news item on its website.

Quoting from the 146-page report, a total of $183m (N28.73bn) in signature bonuses paid by oil companies to the federation was said to be missing.

The report said that Ministers of Petroleum Resources between 2008 and 2011 handed out seven discretionary oil licences, but that $183m in signature bonuses was missing from the deals.

Three of the oil licences were said to have been awarded since the current minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, assumed office in 2010.

With the leakage of the report, stakeholders, including labour unions and civil society organisations, had accused the Federal Government of attempting to cover up the fraud. But the allegation was denied by the Presidency.

In his bid to prove to his sincerity, President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday directed Ribadu and the chairmen of the two other task forces set up on the oil and gas sector to submit their reports to him on Friday.

The presentation started smoothly with the Chairman of the Task force on Governance, Mr. Dotun Suleiman; and the Chairman, National Refineries Special Task force, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, taking their turns to summarise their reports and formally presenting same to Alison-Madueke.

The drama

The drama started when Ribadu was called upon to make his presentation.

He saluted the President’s courage for setting up the committees and expressed the hope that he would also display courage in implementing the recommendations.

He said all the issues raised in his report were the truth that would set the President and the country free if properly implemented because they would strengthen institutions and increase government revenue.

The drama proper started when he concluded his remarks and made to present the report to Alison-Madueke.

As Ribadu was moving towards the minister, Oronsaye raised his hand signifying his intention to talk. Immediately after Ribadu handed over a copy of the report to the minister, the President recognised the former Head of Service of the Federation, who was at the time making frantic efforts for his raised hand to be noticed.