Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said this at a press conference in Abuja.

Baru said the landing cost of petrol is now N171 per litre.

• WHAT IS LANDING COST?

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Speaking at the grand finale of the 2017 National Quiz Competition, Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mr Maikanti Baru, said the partnership would help in deepening knowledge in science and technology

Baru said that the NNPC prized education, dearly adding that the corporation was working with its partners to ensure that the best standards of its competition were maintained.

He said that it was in realisation of the importance of science and technology that the NNPC decided to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, (STEM), education as a key element of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, and strategy.

This, he said informed the establishment of the annual quiz competition.

“In this respect, our arc tilts towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, branches of knowledge, given the great roles they play in nation-building.

“For a reason, STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literary, and enables the next generation of innovators. Innovation is the pillars of any progressive economy.”

Baru said the 2017 edition was the sixteenth in the competition’s history, stating that it had been expanded from the previous editions, while the prizes had been improved upon also.

He noted that the 2017 edition took place in all the 774 local government areas of the country and also featured in states in the North-East, that were affected by insurgency.

“Beginning from this year, the corporation will be providing a one-off educational grant of N100,000 each for all state winners of the competition.

“This means that everybody on this podium today, regardless of his or her final position is assured of N100, 000 from the NNPC to help defray the costs of their tertiary education.

“For the overall winner of the competition, a scholarship award of N300,000 will be granted per session, while the second and third place winners will receive a scholarship award of N250,000 and N200,000 respectively per session for the duration of their tertiary education,” he said.

He said the prizes were redeemable by the winners upon presentation of evidence of the admission into tertiary institutions whenever it may be.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, commended the NNPC for its contributions to the growth of the Nigerian educational sector.

He said that the competition was unifying and bonding as it was conducted across all the states and local governments in the country.

Kachikwu assured the finalists that the competition presented a veritable opportunity for them to further brighten their future.

He called on the governors of the various finalists to make contact and mentor them as that would help them in their future endeavours.

In his remark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, commended the NNPC for taking educational development as a crucial part of its CSR programme and also for sustenaning the programme for 17 years.

He stated that the NNPC’s contribution to education, especially for STEM was critical going by the fact that the country still had a lot to do in deepening science and technology.

He expressed the support of the National Assembly in the progress of the contestants and students in general.

At the end of the competition, Delta State took the first position with 75 points, Abia, second with 70 and Ondo third Position with 65 points.

NAN

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The only meeting held by the ad hoc committee investigating the matter was an inaugural one, which took place on October 24, 2017. That was exactly two weeks after it was constituted.

The four-week deadline given to the ad hoc committee by Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, when it was constituted expired over a week ago without a word from either the committee, or the Senate leadership.

Chairman of the committee who is a former Sokoto State governor, Aliu Wamakko, has refused to speak on the investigation.

But a member of the Committee and Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources, Downstream, Senator Kabiru Marafa, (APC, Zamfara Central,) had tried to adduce reasons for the delayed probe.

According to Marafa, the committee could not start because the three chairmen of Senate Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream, Downstream and Gas) were all away with Saraki to attend a function in Russia.

However, Saraki and all those members returned to the country three weeks ago. Marafa also claimed that the search for a clerk for the ad hoc committee was also responsible for the delay in take-off.

Marafa had said: “ We had to wait for communication on the directive by the Senate to the committee. When the Senate sets up an ad hoc committee, there are some procedures the mandate has to pass through, including the appointment of a clerk, and provision of a secretariat. An ad hoc committee is different from a standing committee- a standing committee has everything in place, but an ad hoc committee does not.”

It would be recalled that the Senate had on October 4, announced the composition of a committee to carry out a holistic investigation into allegation of insubordination and abuse of due process leveled against the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

The Senate had also resolved to investigate Kachikwu’s call for the cancellation of the recent appointments in the NNPC, just as it had resolved to carry out a probe into the finances and activities of the NNPC.

The decision to probe the allegations raised by Kachikwu against Baru was sequel to additional prayer by Senator Kabir Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central) during a discussion on a motion by Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East) titled, “Allegation of Corruption against NNPC Trading: Time to Conduct a Holistic Investigation.”

Anyanwu’s prayer, which was taken by the Senators read, “Constitute an ad-hoc committee to Investigate the Policy Introduced by the Current NNPC Trading Limited.”

The Committee, which has Senator Aliyu Wamakko as chairman, also has senators Bassey Albert Akpan (PDP, Akwa Ibom North East); Tayo Alasoadura (APC, Ondo Central); Kabir Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central); Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East); Ahmed Ogembe (PDP, Kogi Central); Rose Oko (PDP, Cross River North); Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North), and Baba Kaka Garbai (APC, Borno Central) as members.

But checks around the Senate reveal that the committee might redirect its focus to its second terms of reference, which is the investigation of allegation of corruption against NNPC Trading Company.

The Trading Company comprises of Duke Oil (a subsidiary of the NNPC), Hyson/Carlson (JV), NAP Oil (JV); and West Africa-Gas LTD (JV).

After the Senate announced its decision to probe the alleged contracts, the Presidency came out to deny their existence.

That denial was followed by a curious suit instituted by an Abuja-based lawyer, Johnmary Chukwukasi Jideobi, against the investigation at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, to restrain the Senate from inviting Baru over the allegations.

In his suit, Jideobi asked the court to set aside the October 4, 2017 proceedings of the Senate on the ground that its planned investigation was based on the contents of an unconfirmed document of doubtful origin.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reliably gathered that the plot to remove Kachikwu from office is thickening by the day.

The Minister of State is said to have incurred the wrath of some highly placed individuals within the Presidency, over his face-off with Baru.

The allegations leveled by Kachikwu have generated outrage among Nigerians, who have called on President Muhammadu Buhari, who oversees the Petroleum Resources Ministry to take decisive action on the issue, in view of his stance on the anti-graft war in the polity.

A member of the House of Representatives, who asked not to be named said contrary to notions held in certain quarters, the face-off between Kachikwu and Baru is yet to be resolved.

Despite the Senate putting in place an ad hoc committee, the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), which is following the matter with keen interest has perfected plans to summon Kachikwu, Baru and other key actors to shed more light on the award of the controversial contracts within the week.

According to the source: “The matter is still very much on ground. As we speak there are plots by Baru’s friends in the Presidency to remove the minister of state from office. They are not happy with him and have not forgiven him over what he did. We equally have our issues with Kachikwu because of the way he conduct himself as minister and when he was GMD of NNPC. “

“There would be no need to raise it as a motion at the plenary session, but we would look into the issue. We appreciate the fact that the Senate had already set up an ad hoc committee, but we are not going to leave it at that. In the legislature, which is bicameral, every arm can carry out their independent investigation just as is happening in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives, which are investigating Russia’s involvement in the last US election.

“And it is important for both chambers to independently do so, so that we can have varying levels of information required to help the country. It would help the National Assembly to be more objective and to avoid any bias or any influences.”

Meanwhile, the Anioma Media Professions (AMP), a group of senior members of Nigeria’s mass media establishment from the Delta North Senatorial District of Delta State, has decried what it described as surreptitious moves by some entrenched interests to rubbish Kachikwu’s integrity.

The group in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Ken Ugbechie, took swipe at the treatment being meted out to Kachikwu, a native of the region, by authorities of government concerning Kachikwu’s recent leaked memo to Buhari, in respect of alleged infractions by Baru in the award of contracts amounting to $25b and appointments of key personnel in the Corporation.

The AMP pointed out that the development could amount to tarnishing Kachikwu’s long-earned integrity and also downgrading the professionalism and brilliant contributions he brought to NNPC, which provided the platform for the stability and increased oil revenue being harvested by Nigerian government today and largely responsible for the country’s recent exit from the worst recession in a quarter of a century.

It therefore expressed worry over what it termed a calculated attempt by some entrenched interests to rubbish Dr. Kachikwu in his capacity as Minister of State for Petroleum, “who came into the Buhari-led government as a highly recommended technocrat for his outstanding record of integrity, intelligence, boldness and high standards of work ethics in the oil and gas sector, where he had risen to become a Vice-Chairman of Exxon Mobil Oil Company (Africa & Middle-East) operations”.

Part of the statement read: “We are particularly concerned over the suspicious role being played by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the whole saga by ‘dusting up’ a petition written against Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, the half-brother of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to create the impression that Dr. Kachikwu had integrity issues before the EFCC.

“The EFCC by its action deliberately wants to mislead unsuspecting members of the public by presenting Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as one and the same person as Chief Dumebi  Kachikwu, his half-brother. We also have it on good authority that some officials of EFCC are surreptitiously circulating and sponsoring damaging documents about Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu to conventional media houses and online platforms, for publication.”

The group said it did not intend to hold brief for Dr. Kachikwu in his personal or official capacity in public service, but felt compelled to issue the statement against what it sees as “a campaign of calumny, mischief and witch-hunt by vested interests against a man who by both local and international benchmarks is a symbol of openness, competence and integrity.”

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I have followed the senate closely. In fact, I covered that arm of the national assembly in the past. So, I can say with a verisimilitude of certainty that I have copious knowledge of the institution.

The senate has become a reactionary cry-baby. Its only approach to issues of volcanic magnitude is conducting ineffectual probes. Probe this, probe that. I have become weary of the countless insipid probes.

The nucleic problem is that the probes are not usually followed with pristine actions. Perhaps, the senate uses them as a spectre of distraction or as a means of “toasting” Nigerians  -“we are on top of the situation” – while its members gormandise the coveted national cake. I am sure every Nigerian knows the meaning of this abused and trite clause – “we are on top of the situation”.

On Tuesday, the upper legislative chamber embarked on a futile exercise of braggadocio –  to probe the circumstances of how Abdulrasheed Maina, alleged pension thief, who was on exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), breezed into the country; how he was reinstated into the civil service, and how he was promoted to director at the ministry of interior.

Despite, the wise counsel of Senator Tayo Alasodura that “we (senate) should not always duplicate the executive; if the executive has ordered an investigation we should not order another one”, the chest-thumping senate still resolved to ask its committees on interior and anti-corruption, public service and establishment to investigate the matter. And I ask, to what end?

It is clear that the senate’s answer to every problem is probe – often without result. The upper legislative chamber also appears to savour duplicating the executive. Let me explain.

A few days ago when Ibe Kachiwku’s jarring missive of allegations against Maikanti Baru, NNPC GMD, ticked off a public outcry, the presidency ordered an immediate investigation of the claims. The senate, perhaps, not to be outdone, also asked its committee on petroleum to investigate the allegations. And I ask again, to what end? What has come out of all the previous probes on education, NNPC and power?

Why is the senate in a frantic chase of a will-o-the-wisp? I remember in March when the upper legislative chamber took its battle with the executive to Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service, the institution huffed and puffed like a wounded dragon, but to date there is no splinter of result from its investigation of the customs chief.

For the senate to be taken seriously, it must make resolutions from its investigations actionable. It must put gravitas to its functions. If it must probe, it should be ready to tell Nigerians the result and effect of the action.

It makes no sense the time and money spent investigating an issue, only for the findings to be tucked away in a webby shelf. Maybe, the senate is using “probes” to play to the gallery and to cloak its lazy schedule.

The upper legislative chamber must put oomph and gravitas to its probes.

Twitter: FredrickNwabufo, Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo

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Baru who was Speaking on Monday when he received leaders of some unions at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, described the allegations that he awarded contracts without due process as unfounded.

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, had alleged that Baru  awarded contracts worth $25 billion regardless of the process.

While responding, Baru said humongous figures were put out to incite the public. He dismissed Kachikwu’s position that the NNPC board ought to be consulted before contracts were awarded.

The GMD said both the NNPC Act and Public Procurement Act vested procurement powers on the NNPC tenders board, the president and the federal executive council (FEC) depending on the cost threshold.

“I know for those of you who are following what we are doing here, you know that there’s no money lost and no process has been breached,” he said.

“Our contracting process is perfect and we will continue to follow the process. The corporation board has no role, I repeat, has no role as far as the contracting process is concerned.”

He said the crude term contract and the direct sale and direct purchase (DSDP) agreements were “not contracts as such” but pre-qualification of off-takers of crude oil.

Kachikwu had said Baru placed $15 billion on DSDP.

“The case of DSDP is of those that will take crude and give us products in return,” he said.

“So there is no value to them. But humongous figures have been put forward mainly to incite the public, it is most unfortunate.”

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