20 anti-corruption groups set to fight FG’s plans to concession PH refinery

No less than 20 civil society/anti-corruption groups on Monday protested against moves by the Federal Government to concession the Port Harcourt refinery.

The groups in a statement signed by their leaders following a press conference on Monday entitled “Coalition of civil society /anti-corruption groups say no to illegal concession of our refineries”, said they were gravely concerned that, “if care is not taken, this government is about to fall into the same abyss of corruption in the petroleum sector for which it is prosecuting officials and friends of the past government.”

They argued that it was ironic that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government is about to be afflicted with the same ailment it promised to cure in the petroleum sector upon coming to power.

“That singular ailment is impunity,” they said.

According to them, on “May 9, 2017, the Hon. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources announced that the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, a subsidiary of the Italian Oil Company ENI, had ‘Committed to repairing the Port-Harcourt refinery, as part of a $15,000,000,000.00 (Fifteen Billion Dollars) investment that includes the building of a 150 thousand-barrel-per-day refinery and power plant’.

“Before proceeding further, let us remind ourselves that ENI is the same company involved in the Malabu scandal from which the country is still reeling,” they noted.

They went further to say that “on May 11, 2017, Mr. Wale Tinubu, the CEO of Oando Plc, told members of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that Oando had received approval (in principle) from government to repair, operate and maintain the Port-Harcourt refinery in conjunction with AGIP.

“This was further confirmed by Oando’s Chief Strategy and Corporate Services Officer on May 16, 2017, when he said the company was a party to the agreement reached between AGIP and the Federal Government to repair, operate and maintain (ROM) Port-Harcourt refinery. He said the final agreement will be reached at the end of July, 2017.

“On the 30th of May, 2017, the Nigerian Senate was the first institution to kick against this clandestine arrangement between the Federal Government and these private companies. On that day, sequel to a motion moved by a distinguished Senator from Jigawa State, Senator Mohammed Sabo, the Senate asked the ministry of Petroleum Resources to stop any further move to concession the Port-Harcourt refinery to AGIP and Oando until it receives a report from a special committee it set up to probe the deal.”

Worried that the Senate has opened a small window of possibility to legitimatise the sale of the refinery despite the queries it raised, the group vowed to oppose the move until the idea is dropped.

Read also: GE Emerges Sole Bidder for $2bn Nigerian Rail Concession

“We are concerned that the Senate, with all due respect, may just want to position itself to be part of the bargain to the detriment of Nigerians. As we shall show shortly, the Senate probe is needles as there is nothing to probe.

“The deal is patently illegal, morally bankrupt and economically disadvantageous to Nigeria as a country. The Senate should have just adopted a motion to stop it outrightly. Hence, we have decided to form this coalition to fight this illegality until the Federal Government
retraces it steps”.

The group argued among other reasons that the move was illegal, morally bankrupt and has no economic advantage.

They said, “The concession of any asset or infrastructure of the Federal Government, by whatever name called, must be in strict compliance with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Establishment, ETC) Act, 2005.

“This is not the first attempt by government to privatise or concession our refineries. Even before the enactment of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act, the Federal Government proceeded on the basis of international best practices in the process of privatising the refineries. To adopt another standard this time around is morally reprehensible.

“It is also a deal that would invariably lead to economic sabotage. We all know that as of today, the refineries cannot produce more that 40 per cent of their installed capacities.

“Our demands is that: the Federal Government must immediately cancel
the ill-advised, ill-designed and fraudulent transaction.

“If the Federal Government desires to still go ahead, it must proceed in strict compliance with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act or the Privatisation Act (if it is outright privatisation).”

The groups include Centre for Anti-Corruption, Campaign for Democracy, Centre for Change, Nigeria Unite Against Corruption, Grassroot Democratic Initiative and 15 others.

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