CHAIRMAN of the Committee on Petroleum Revenue Task Force, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu and a member of his committee, Mr. Steve Orosanye, at the presentation of the committee’s report to President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday traded words over the content of the highly anticipated report.
Responding to Oronsoye’s allegations, Mr. Ribadu fired-back by accusing the former federal head of service of pursuing private interests while the committee busied itself with its duties, which culminated in the report presented to the president on Friday, saying that Oronsanye sought and got an appointment as a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation even as he retained his position as a member of the committee on Petroleum Revenue Task Force, chaired by Ribadu.
“Steve Orosanye never participated one day in the deliberations of this committee. Not even a single day. Never,” Ribadu shot back at Oronsaye, emphasizing that “the first time we saw Steve was at the end of the work when we were talking about recoveries from companies that he jumped in and he got in.”
Mr. Ribadu appeared battle-ready as he defended his position, noting “all the members (of the committee) are here, they can bear witness to what I have said.”
He further revealed that despite the independence of the committee, Mr Orosanye, got himself appointed as a member on the board of Directors of the NNPC.
There was at least one other member of the committee who had also raised issues with the report, Mr Bernard Oti. He, too, was alleged to have secured an appointment as Nigeria’s Petroleum Corporation director of finance while the committee’s investigation lasted.
“This recommendation is for you to use. It is your work. You thought it wise to bring people from outside to help you look at the industry critically and give an honest opinion,” said Mr. Ribadu in a passionate voice in his address to his audience, which included President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr Orosanye, who is a former head of the national civil service, had urged the President not to accept the report, alleging that some of the figures in the draft report were “unreconciled figures” and that institutions responsible for the figures, such as the Department of Petroluem Resources and the Federal Inland Revenue Service were not consulted.
Orosanye also alleged that the report that was presented to the president was rushed and was not presented to the committee beforehand as was agreed upon.
President Jonathan in his remark gave the assurance that despite the dispute between members of the committee, his administration will look into the report and prosecute any one alleged of misappropriation in the nation’s oil sector.
President Jonathan also noted Nigeria needs to get its oil industry right because a lot African countries on the shorelines are now discovering crude and and if we do not get our acts together, investors will just take their money to these countries.
The Nuhu Ribadu led Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force was appointed in February 2012 and was given 60 working days to deliver their mandate of enhancing integrity and accountability in the petroleum industry.
The 146 page report produced by the committee was earlier in the week leaked to Reuters News agency, revealing that the nation loses out on $29 billion on cut-price gas deals from the year 2002 to the present.
- Additional reporting courtesy of ChannelsTV.