The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, raising administrative misconduct against the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), especially its Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
In a leaked memo dated August 30, 2017 and titled Matters of Insubordination and lack of adherence to due process perpetuated by the GMD NNPC, Baru, Kachikwu accused the GMD of by-passing him and the NNPC Board in key contract decisions and appointments.
“In most of these activities, the explanation of the GMD is that you are the minister of petroleum and your approvals were obtained. However, the correct governance should be that the Minister of State and the Board review the transaction and give their concurrence prior to presentation to you.,” he explained.
Kachikwu also hinted the president that “the following major contracts were never reviewed by, or discussed with me or the Board of NNPC:
- The Crude Term Contracts – value at over $10billion
- The DSDP contracts – value over $5billion
- The AKK pipeline contract – value approximately $3billion
- Various financing allocation funding contracts with the NOCs – value over $3billion
- Various NPDC production service contracts – value at over $3billion – $4billion”
He also accused GMD Baru of making appointments and re-organisation without his (Kachikwu) inputs or that of the NNPC board.
Kachikwu’s prayers in the memo are:
That the president should call the GMD to order, to save the corporation and the oil industry from collapse;
That the president instruct the GMD to always comply with due process and to involve him in key decision making at the NNPC; He asked the president to order suspension of Baru’s recent re-organisation until the NNPC board, him and Baru have made relevant inputs.
Thus he advised the president should call for a joint presentation of reports by the Minister of State, NNPC and other head of parastatals “to encourage working together and implant discipline in the hierarchy.”
Kachikwu also complained that so far, he has not been able to secure appointment to see the president on the matter.
But in reaction, Kachikwu who did not deny authorship of the memo, he also expressed disappointment that normal confidential and procedural correspondence sent to president could be made public
His reaction is contained in a statement by Idang Alibi, Director of Press, Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“It is most distressing to the ministry of petroleum resources that a confidential communication to the President on the performance of one of its parastatals can be made public.
“The focus of the communication was on improving efficiency and deepening transparency in the oil and gas sector for continued investor confidence.
“It is noteworthy that the President has been fully supportive of the efforts of the Ministry to entrench good governance and accountability in the oil and gas sector.
“The Ministry of Petroleum Resources remains focused on achieving measurable progress in the implementation of the ongoing oil sector reforms in line with the mandate of the President.” the statement stated