The NNPCL senior executives took the decision out of fear of being forced to resign by the new Bola Tinubu administration.
According to SaharaReporters, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, have flown to Saudi Arabia to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.
This comes amid a legislative investigation into NNPCL and charges of wrongdoing against the two.
According to SaharaReporters, Kyari and Ajiya landed at Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina on Wednesday on a private plane labeled M-ALEN. A few hours later, it took off towards King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Tope Shonubi, the CEO of Sahara Energy, owns the private plane.
According to several reports, the senior NNPC officials traveled out of Nigeria under the pretence of conducting a shorter hajj (Umrah), but they are in the Islamic nation to ‘lobby’ for an appointment with President Buhari.
On Tuesday, the President paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia.
Buhari’s last visit to the kingdom as president, according to Garba Shehu, a presidential spokeswoman.
“Amid the House of Representatives’ $2.4 billion stolen crude oil scam, SaharaReporters’ N20 billion Naira consultancy payment scam, multi-billion-naira gratuity payment scam, and multiple petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission, Kyari and Ajiya have jetted off to Saudi Arabia to lobby President Buhari.”
‘They also intend to meet with the ‘President-elect,’ Bola Tinubu, although I doubt Tinubu would come to Saudi Arabia,’ a source informed SaharaReporters.
“They went in disguise to do a smaller hajj” (Umrah). They both traveled out of the country on April 12th in a private jet Embraer Legacy 650 Jet with registration number M-ALEN owned by Tope Shonubi, the Managing Director of Sahara Energy Ltd.
“We, the NNPC employees, are disheartened and disgusted by the way Kyari and Ajiya operate the corporation.”
SaharaReporters exclusively revealed how Kyari and Ajiya paid themselves billions of naira in gratuities.
According to a source, the NNPCL senior executives took the decision out of fear of being forced to resign by the new Bola Tinubu administration.
After his ‘winning’ in the February 25 presidential election, Tinubu will be sworn in as president on May 29, 2023, to follow President Muhammadu Buhari, who is concluding his second term.
“Isn’t this corruption?” “Our Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, paid themselves billions of naira in gratuity while still in active service, which is against public service norms,” the source claimed.
“Following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act by the National Assembly, the NNPC transitioned into a limited liability corporation with share capital for more transparency and accountability, as well as to become a profit-driven enterprise.” Yet, under Kyari and Ajiya, the opposite is true.
“The dread of being fired or asked to retire unexpectedly compelled these two individuals to give themselves a colossal gratuity while still in active duty.” They are both operating NNPC as their own firm because no one is checking up on them.”
According to the source, the PIA Act grants the Group CEO and CFO considerable authority without recourse to the President because NNPC has a constituted board.
Yet, the board is claimed to lack the authority to monitor NNPC administrative functions.
“The PIA Act has created a gap by granting the group CEO and CFO considerable authority to operate the organization without recourse to the President.” Guess what? Same Umar Ajiya retired from NLNG before joining NNPC. “He was given a gratuity at NLNG and now he has paid himself another gratuity, which is against public service law while remaining in active work with the business,” a source said.
Garba Deen Muhammad, Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, acknowledged the payment of gratuity to the two in a statement.
He did, however, state that they were paid by “NNPC and not NNPCL” for their services.
The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Oil Theft has stated its intention to examine the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from the unlawful sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export.
The committee then called the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed; the Secretary General of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; the Accountant General of the Federation, Sylva Okolieaboh; and representatives of the NNPCL, among others.
SaharaReporters revealed in December 2022 that Nigeria’s lower parliamentary chamber formed an ad hoc committee to investigate a whistleblower’s accusation of the illicit sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light oil in China in 2015, as well as the cargo’s insurance status.
It was also tasked with investigating all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 to date, in terms of quantity, insurance, money produced, remittances into the federation account or other accounts, and revenue use for the time under consideration.
The committee must report back within four weeks for additional legislative action.
These resolutions followed the unanimous passage of a motion introduced by a member of the House, Ibrahim Isiaka, headlined “Alleged Loss of over $2.4 Billion in Revenue from Illegal Sale of 48 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Export in 2015, Including Crude Oil Exports from 2014 to Date.”
According to a recent Nigerian Senate investigation, the NNPC failed to account for crude oil deliveries totaling N102 billion to Warri and Kaduna refineries.
On April 2, 2023, SaharaReporters revealed that the Ogun State government also took NNPC to court over outstanding tax obligations of N9 billion.
There were also claims of plain theft by employees of the defunct Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), who reportedly paid a total of N1 billion to its consultant, Messres Safaya, as part of the money she helped them save on tax return requests from the Ogun State government.
With the changeover of the PPMC, there is the NNPC retail, which is for filling station owners and retailers, and the NNPC trucking, which is for boats, tank farms, and others.
The state government, on the other hand, expressed amazement that nothing was given to them, while NNPC paid itself to the tune of over a billion naira.
It was claimed that Messres Safaya was paid about N1 billion as a 10% consultation fee, but no documentation proves that the Ogun state government was paid anything.
A staff member of the company who was dissatisfied with the alleged fraud committed by the defunct staff members of the business mentioned instances of direct theft by the employees of the defunct PPMC. The staff member said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was turning a blind eye to the “huge fraud going on at NNPC since most of the major actors engaged are their people.”
According to the source, the management of the dissolved PPMC divided the majority of the payments to the consultants.
He challenged EFCC authorities to examine the accounts of the consultants engaged by the PPMC’s management and discover how the money was allocated.
Regarding how much he believed was paid to consultants from his office, he stated unequivocally that over N20 billion was taken under the guise of paying ghost consultants they recruited.
Nevertheless, NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer rejected the charges of fraud, claiming that the business did not use or engage with ghost consultants.
He went on to say that the “process of employing consultants whenever the need arises is transparent and verifiable and follows worldwide best practices.”
