NNPC Clear Out: '50 Percent Of Top Level Officers To Be Retired'

 

As the efforts to reposition the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) continue, there are indications that about 50 percent of the top level officers of the corporation would be retired.

An industry source told BusinessDay that most of the group general managers and managing directors of the corporation’s subsidiaries would be affected by the next wave of the exercise which started with the replacement of the group managing director.

The source further said that the new group managing director of NNPC, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, would preffer to have a lean team to work with to carry out his mandate of transforming the oil and gas industry in a most effective way.

Some of the management staff that have served close to30 years and above may be paid off, our source said .

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kachiukwu the new helmsman for the NNPC on Tuesday and by Wednesday, all the eight executive directors were asked to go.

It is most likely that the managing directors of all the refineries and and other subsidiaries such as the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) would be the next set to be asked to go , another NNPC source told our reporter.

How i led officers to pick Buhari - Col. Abdulmumini Aminu

by Umoru Faruk Salifu & Anthony Maliki


Retired Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu, Borno state military governor during President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime, narrates, among other things, how he led other officers to pick up current president Muhammadu Bahuri from Dodan Barracks in Lagos where he was as military head of state.
What have you been doing after your retirement from military service?
If you may recall, I retired from the military in 1993. Since then life has been very challenging. I won’t say it has been very bad, but manageable. I was opportuned in 1986 to be appointed as chairman of Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and I became President, West Africa Football Union (WAFU). I was also a member of CAF, FIFA and the rest of them. You know I am a lover of football. Well, sports generally but football in particular. Up till now I am a stakeholder in football affairs, because I cherish it. I follow football with passion. I always contribute my quota in many ways.
Life in military service or retirement, which area do you cherish?
It depends. When I was in service, I was very young. For me to say it was not enjoyable, is an understatement, because it was a very interesting, exciting experience being in the military and don’t forget, I did a short service course in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), so I was commissioned in 1969 and matched to the war front, because at that time, there was dire need of officers. So we did a crash programme. What regular officers were doing in three or four years, we did in four months. We did not have anytime of ours. It was a massive training, but very interesting. We were happy that we passed and most of us were interested in serving in the military.
But on the other hand, if you compare it with retirement especially for a military officer, they are two distinct lives. When I was in the military, I held many posts and after that, you retire.  It is not easy for you to blend with the civil life. In the military when you are given an assignment or give an assignment, you are expected to perfectly complete or adhere to it. In fact, the subordinate in carrying out that assignment, would be worried whether it would be done to the satisfaction of his boss. But on the other hand, with due respect, some civilians do things the way they want, when they want it, how they want it and so on. And even where you push them to do it, you would see that there is some lackadaisical attitude. I am not saying that everybody is like that but some people do that and that can never happen in the military. And that is the beauty of it and that is why if some people leave the military, they are not able to adjust.
You had some time in politics. Now are you still in politics?
I am still participating in politics, but not too active.
At some point you contested for the governorship of Katsina State but you kept out of this year’s election. Why?
I ventured into politics because today that is the norm. I like politics. In my state I am a kingmaker. In the federal government also I am in the higher echelon. Initially, I was in the PDP in 1999, then in 2003 I was in the UNCP.  Before the governorship elections I withdrew and supported ANPP then. At that time, I even supported General Muhammadu Buhari and that was how I was even arrested at one time and was in Abuja, although the following morning, I was released. It was on the allegation that I went to a local government area and stole ballot boxes and burnt the entire local government. Anyway, I drove myself to Abuja with the boxes I carried that they were trying to thumb-print and I stopped that and I carried some boxes as exhibit to the headquarters.
The ANPP with other parties transmuted into the All Progressives Congress (APC). Why didn’t you join the APC?
I had personal grudge. It was not because I did not like my party. But later I went back to my party. That was a short-lived thing. Immediately after that, I returned to the PDP after the elections. People say it was because I was scared. It was not so. People always feel that you should be scared. I believe under democratic setting, you should not be afraid of anything. The system protects you. It is not a military administration so I am not scared of anything.
Are you saying this because you have a military background?
I know I am a very courageous individual but the issue is I know my rights. Once you know your rights I think half of the battle is won. I have not stolen money. I have not done anything wrong against any government. I am not a saboteur. It’s not because I have a military background. I know my rights. Nobody can just say you should be arrested. There must be something for somebody to initiate that arrest.
You were governor of old Borno State, now faced with the problem of insurgency. What is your take on the whole situation?
Unfortunately in most cases in Nigeria today, we always allow bad things to develop from weakness to strength. Well, to me, it was supposed to be arrested right from the onset. For you to allow it to develop further, then you will find it difficult to contain it. That’s what has caused our problem today. There is a lot of laxity pertaining to the way the whole situation was handled. We discovered that there were complaints about the military being ill-equipped, ill-motivated, who were not very much supported or leadership that lacked focus. All these put together really cause a lot of problems in terms of objectives of winning any war, whether it is real conventional war or war on terrorism. You see, you must identify the problem clearly and you must set objectives and also the ways and means of how to achieve that objective with the aim of completely destroying Boko Haram. But, the government and the military didn’t have a clear cut idea of how to go about it. They didn’t even define the enemy properly. They didn’t even know the intention of the enemy. They just took them for granted and I know by our training in the military you don’t underrate anybody or any opponent. An enemy is an enemy because if you underrate an enemy, then he can cause a lot of havoc before you realize it. That is the situation we found ourselves. In the course of my military training, I never heard anything like ‘when you are killed’. It is said, ‘when you kill’ because ‘when you are killed’ is demoralizing.
Having been a governor in the old Borno State, what efforts did you make to help mitigate the problem there?
While I was there, there were a lot of problems in terms of security. There were a lot of security challenges in Borno and Yobe and I took it head-long. There was the proliferation of arms and ammunitions from the political upheavals in Chad that caused a lot of security challenges for my administration in Borno at that time. With all the security agencies in the state, we came out with an idea of operating not in a normal way but we had to adopt an unorthodox method, whereby I ordered the purchase of two buses used by security personnel in civil dress and unarmed. That is how we were able to check the insecurity. They would think that they were ordinary people and we arrested many of them, sometimes we killed some. And from there, we had a lot of information until we checked the criminals and that was how we eliminated them right from the beginning.
Would you link the insurgency now to the events of that time?
The magnitude now is different and the Boko Haram is beyond local insurgency because al-Qaeda and ISIS are being alleged to be involved or supporting Boko Haram in Nigeria and you can’t imagine, they are using armoured vehicles, heavy machine-guns and sometimes helicopter. So it is not a child’s play. I’m happy that they have taken full military operation to bring to an end the problem of insurgency in the Northeast. I recall that in early 1993, during Babangida’s administration, National Guard was established and I was the pioneer commander. When it was established, Abacha was vehemently against it, because the military, the police and other security agencies saw it as a rival organisation. The military and politicians were not comfortable. Some say Babangida established the unit to enhance his stay in power but that was not the idea. Before it was established, I went to seven countries that established similar outfits. When I came back, we even started sending people for training, suddenly it was abolished. Believe me if that outfit was allowed to thrive, armed robberies, kidnappings and all these would not be, because we could have curtailed them from the onset. We could have had the intelligence to discover all these things. That was our mandate. No security outfit had that kind of mandate and our training was geared towards that. The essence at that time was to establish it as a fighting force as well, so that if there was any attack on Nigeria, it would be the National Guard who would take the first shot to stand the enemy. If it gets to the point that they cannot cope, then the military comes in. I am talking of an attack against the country. Now, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, with due respect, I don’t even know the role they are playing in the country. If you have an outfit like that, that outfit should be able to get some amount of military training. But I really don’t know what they are doing. Are they doing police work, road safety work or whatever? For me, that outfit should take the role of the National Guard to take care of the things I have enumerated. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps should be a stronger outfit. I would pray and beg that our president should look into that with a view to making them a very strong outfit that can perform certain functions. Now, the military is mounting road blocks and the rest. The respect and the fear the military earned is gone now.
The last Chief of Defence Staff said some of the problems he faced were the lack of well-equipped military to tackle the insurgency. Do you think he should be taken seriously?
Yes! Because you see at that level especially in the military, you have to be loyal to the government. I am sure he made his point before the authority. He must have made all efforts, probably something was not done.
So are you  saying in essence that the last administration was negligent in dealing with the situation?
They took a lot of things for granted. They never knew it was going to blow out of proportion to this extent. But as far as I am concerned, the military did well, the way they started with limited weapons and even training. You see to fight terrorism is very difficult. It is even easier to fight conventional war than to fight terrorism. The insurgents would be in civil dress, be with the population and you won’t know and even people protecting them without you knowing that they are your enemies. So, it’s a very difficult thing. If the military had wanted to apply maximum force, they would have done it, but at what cost? They would have killed a lot of innocent civilians and Nigerians would complain and if you do it to save lives and property they would still complain. It is a double edge sword and it depends on your real calculation, how you really plan your own operation. But whichever way, you stand to be accused of killing innocent people and there is no war that can be fought without killing innocent people. But to what extent is what matters.
At a point in your military career, you were asked to arrest your superior officer, former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, the present president. During the IBB coup you were asked to arrest him and you did. What happened and how do you relate with each other now?
I must confess that I led that operation. I went to Dodan Barracks that time in company of two other officers - then Major John Madaki and Lawan Gwadabe. Three of us went, but specifically I was the one that went upstairs to bring Buhari. With due respect, I have been reading in the papers and listening to radio, people saying that we manhandled him, we disrespected him.  That was not true. I and General Buhari are the only two who knew what transpired upstairs and there was nothing like that. We gave him his absolute respect as a superior, because even before that time, we had absolute respect for him, because of whom and what he was. We respected him a lot till today and there is no animosity between us and he knew it was a military assignment that we were carrying out from our superior. He even told me at one time. So for us, it is just like the other way round of when he came to power during the anti-Shagari coup. I was among those who played a major role in getting him to power. So, he knew the role I played. And even Buhari knew in 2003, I was arrested because of him. That time, I supported him. I worked for him at that time, without even him knowing anyway, but he later knew.You see, once you believe in somebody and you know he has the capability, you can do anything for him without even him knowing.
But, is it true that you handcuffed Buhari?
It is a blatant lie. In an operation of that nature, we don’t carry handcuffs. I did not salute him because according to military tradition and norms when the flag is lowered, you can only pay compliments the way you deem fit, not salutation. We met at 2 a.m. and at that time, we don’t salute because the flag is down, until 6 am again when the flag is up. To insinuate that he was handcuffed, that is far from the truth. We only accorded him all the respects he deserved. I still hold him in very high esteem.
But why you are not with him in the same party?
I left the PDP, which was on a personal ground. I am in the APC. I have been in APC for long. I and Buhari met in Katsina before our governorship election.
There was a time you were in PDM?
I have never been in the PDM. But at the early stage of PDM, when General Musa Yar’Adua established it, I was a member, including Tony Anenih and others. That was what metamorphosed into the PDP at that stage, yes; but not the PDM as a party.
People have expressed worry in some quarters that President Buhari is slow. What is your assessment of his administration so far?
To be slow and calculative is a strategy. I don’t know what he might have met. Now, he is in a position to know how he would govern the country. First of all, he has to align all the dismantled areas. He has to put them right because he can’t just start doing things blindly. So, I have no complaint about that, I don’t have any worry about it, they should allow him to do things at his own pace and to do what he deems fit, because he is the person on the ground. He is the one who knows the situation better than any other person. Besides, we know Buhari is a very sincere person, a honest, incorruptible person. My advice here is that, like any other person has been saying, he should also look for people who are honest, who are sincere, who love this country and who are ready to work. He knows them but it is very difficult to get people like him because most Nigerians are corrupt. He should know how to pick his team. If he gets the right team, you would discover that he would do little and everything would fit in. The government should pick people even if the president is doing something wrong, they should be able to tell him. But today, you discover that a lot of people because they are corrupt, they see leaders making mistakes, they would not draw their attention to that, because they are scared that they would be removed.  We don’t want ‘yes sir ministers.’
What is your general assessment of the state of the nation?
For me, I am a Nigerian, I believe in Nigeria, I love Nigerian and love Nigerians irrespective of who they are, their religions, tribes or faith and I want Nigerians to stop discriminating against one another because we are talking about Nigeria and where is the strength if there is no unity? When we say unity, we must avoid being a northerner, a southerner. Today Nigeria is being supported, respected from the outside world because of our number. Today, it is not because of our oil or economic potential that we are being recognized and respected, it is that number particularly. That number alone is why some people don’t joke with Nigeria. So we should harness that advangate into strength by being each other’s keeper and respecting ourselves. Let me tell you, any individual who believes he would just succeed alone from the section he comes from or religion, would fail in every endeavor he ventures into. I have seen a lot of my superiors who developed people, who supported people irrespective of section, tribes and that is what most Nigerians should be doing. I was afraid at one time that if there is war against Nigeria, it would be a difficult war. For example, if it comes from the south west, people would say ‘just leave them with their problems’ and if it comes from the northern part, some would say the same thing because we are divided to that extent. So unless we orient ourselves and that is the duty and responsibility of government. We have the National Orientation Agency (NOA). I am not saying they have not done well, but they should find a way of doing it properly. They have their own ideas, but we have not seen the impact.
How do you intend to make this message go round the country?
The government should take the initiative. However, we must stop thinking of our tribes, being a Christian northerner, Muslim northerner. But you can do that personally, it is something you cannot eliminate completely. You cannot tell me, I cannot see myself as a Muslim, but see it within yourself and your God and your family, but don’t go beyond that. Everybody is mature enough to know what is right and what is good for him. We have problem and unless we solve that problem we cannot go anywhere. It is not just when we meet in America or England that we start seeing ourselves as Nigerians. People keep saying that if it is not their man, they would not feel comfortable. We should eliminate that as much as possible. I know Nigerians are good, it is the leadership that should be tasked with this responsibility. The Nigerians I know, if you are good, they won’t be worried about your tribe or where you come from. If you give them the best of leadership, they would support you totally.
How do you intend to take this message to the likes of Ohaneze, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum and the rest of them?
I is out of fear that they are establishing all these groups. They are just pressure groups. What are they doing? They are just pressure groups as far as I am concern. If it were a military administration, I would have removed them. Yes, because that is giving them the feeling that they are northerners, southerners or whichever section. They are not helping the country but a section which we are trying to eliminate. As far as I am concerned, there is no basis for these organisations.
How long are you going to sustain this campaign?
You don’t set targets. Even when you achieve your aim, it would still continue. You cannot operate under this. Today, we are still talking about Biafra. Can you imagine? It does not make sense to me. It is just a way of agitation. They are afraid that because they did not vote APC, they would be marginalized. They don’t have to be afraid. The constitution has taken care of everything.

Senate rejects motion to bring back tollgates

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion to reintroduce tollgates on all constructed and motorable roads in the country.
The upper chamber, however, urged the Federal Government to undertake immediate rehabilitation and dualisation of major highways and interstate roads across the country.
It also asked the Federal Ministry of Works to urgently explore additional ways to fund federal road rehabilitation projects in the country.
It mandated its ad-hoc Committee on Works to embark on audit of all road projects in Nigeria with a view to producing raw data for further necessary legislative action.
The Senate underscored the need to find lasting solution to road problems in the country in view of its attendant negative impact on trade and commerce.
The resolutions of the Senate followed a motion by Senator Dino Melaye and co-sponsored by 90 others.
In his lead debate, Melaye lamented that several trillions of naira had been spent on road re-construction and rehabilitation in the country since the return to democracy with minimal or no impact at all.
Senator Samuel Egwu (Ebonyi North) who supported the motion said there was no better time to reconstruct all federal roads in the country than now that Nigeria is working towards diversification of the economy.
Egwu noted that federal roads in the South East in particular had been in bad shape since the civil war in despite the contributions of those from the region to the growth of the economy.
He said, “The roads in the South East, particularly in Ebonyi State are death traps.
“Ebonyi  State is one of the hubs of agriculture but the roads are in bad shape and that has made movement of goods and services  to other parts of the country very difficult.’’

POLITICS] Euphoria and intransigence in NASS.

Moments after Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, announced the principal officers of the 8th House, in which he appeared to have caved in to the pressures of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the lower chamber quixotically erupted in euphoric praise. Mr Dogara was a hero, they chorused in unison. All swords must be, and are even now, beaten with the best of sculptural graces into ploughshares, they cooed. In his announcement, a part of which was encapsulated in deliberate, dramatic flourish, the Speaker undisguisedly conceded nearly all the disputed APC leadership positions to his opponents. Femi Gbajabiamila, who seemed to embody party supremacy, and had poignantly anchored the main opposition to Hon. Dogara’s team of legislative refuseniks, became the House Majority Leader.

Had Hon. Gbajabiamila wanted that position on the day Hon. Dogara was elected Speaker, he would have got it a la grecque. But after spurning even the position of Deputy Speaker as beneath him in the giddy days of the rebellion against the party by the Dogara column, he had subsequently had to fight tooth and nail to grab a lower post, with a lot of metaphoric shedding of blood on the floor of the House. The party and party supremacists, including Hon. Gbajabiamila, are euphoric. Hon. Dogara himself perhaps feels heroic, having deigned to give sop to his opponents, and received such applause in return that probably left him bewildered. And those who voted the lawmakers into office also expressed relief that this needless rebellion and the grand posturing of legislative combatants had at last come to an unremarkable end.

But the euphoria is inexplicable. Hon. Gbajabiamila has what he craved. The APC is mollified. And Hon. Dogara has his peace. However, it is doubtful whether any of the three is really satisfied. The Majority Leader knows that the Speaker was arm-twisted to concede to the party. The Speaker does not fully appreciate the point that party leadership positions in the legislature must be the exclusive preserve of the party, that is if it cannot be the preserve of tradition, which established and long-standing democracies enjoy. Had Hon. Dogara not eventually bowed to party wishes, it is hard to see how he could have known peace in the House. Nor is it clear how he and any lawmaker he could attract to his camp could hope to function without party programmes and philosophy. Did he understand these delicate points? Or did he simply reluctantly bow to party wishes in order to enjoy his reign?

The public may be relieved that peace has finally been secured in the House of Representatives. But the ululation of the Gbajabiamila/party supremacist group was both indecent and obscene. Their group was right to insist on Hon. Dogara respecting party wishes. But by erupting in cheers and even garishly adorning the Speaker with the robes of heroism, the party supremacist group suggested they were dangerous opportunists — lawmakers without character and conviction. They should have taken the Dogara concessions with the placidity and profound aloofness of superior minds, and damned him with faint praise.

If the farce in the lower chamber is condonable, it is hard to know what to say of the continuing intransigence in the upper chamber where the opinionated and recalcitrant Bukola Saraki is encasing his rebellion against his party in the granite of realpolitik and the cynical use of committee positions as baits. To him, the party does not exist outside the legislature, and its borders not inviolable to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Believing that his position will become impregnable on account of the number of lawmakers he coaxes to his side, the Senate President has attracted as many senators as possible, irrespective of their political standing, moral stature, or deficiency of principles. He is praised by every rebel in the Senate, and venerated by the capricious and loquacious Dino Melaye.

Senator Saraki is, however, unlikely to make any good impression on the equally adamant President Muhammadu Buhari who appears dead set against him. He may have seduced scores of foolish senators and representatives into accompanying his wife to the EFCC office, thus making an ass of themselves and giving the foul impression he is being persecuted by his APC opponents, but it is almost certain he will sink deeper into fallacies and contradictions. The Saraki rebellion is, however, not just an indication of the Senate President’s Machiavellian prowess, or his vaunted unassailability; it is also a more flagrant reflection of the low quality of legislators grandstanding wildly in the upper chamber. Alas, it is also a depressing show of how, irrespective of party leanings, the chamber is stuffed with unprincipled and unreflective opportunists devoid of any sense of the lofty purpose and inclination the ruling party enthused during the campaigns. Senator Saraki should be proud he is building a united and motivated army of undifferentiated lawmakers — an army solely dedicated, across party lines, to satisfying self, ego and financial greed.

By: Adekunle Ade- Adeleye.
via: Facebook, Apc London

We Will Soon Start Making Our Own Weapons Of Warfare – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigeria is going to establish a domestic weapons factory in an effort to cut its dependence on imported arms,
The defence ministry had been told to develop plans for a “modest military industrial complex,” the president said.
Nigeria has been battling the militant Islamist group Boko Haram for the last six years.
The US has refused to sell arms to Nigeria citing human rights abuses.
President Buhari told a gathering of newly graduated military officers that Nigeria “must evolve viable mechanisms for near-self-sufficiency” in defence equipment that it usually imports.
On a visit to Washington last month, Mr Buhari said that the US had “aided and abetted” Boko Haram in the past by refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria.


 

A US law prevents the government from selling arms to countries which fail to tackle human rights abuses.

On Tuesday, a group of visiting US Congress members said Washington could lift its ban on shipping arms to Nigeria’s military if the country improved its human rights record.
The US’s stance has effectively stopped other Western countries from selling sophisticated military hardware to the country, the BBC’s Bashir Sa’ad Abdullahi reports from the capital, Abuja.
Nigeria’s only weapons factory in the northern city of Kaduna mainly produces rifles and civilian tools, Mr Buhari’s spokesman Garba Shehu told the Reuters news agency.
He said that defence chiefs had now been asked to “re-engineer” it.

Corruption: NDDC spends N1.3b on Christmas parties

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North  & Levinus Nwagbuhiogu
 IN pursuit of his anti-graft crusade, President Muhammadu Buhari may have to beam his searchlight on the activities of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
If the findings and documents obtained by Saturday Vanguard are anything to go by, the NDDC is panning out as a cesspool of corruption.
The documents indicate that the agency, which is being supervised by the Presidency through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has brazenly ignored the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, PPA, in the award of contracts for projects and services, thereby allowing its cronies to smile home with huge amounts of public funds.
Over-shooting contract limit
The 2007 PPA  sets limits on contracts that key officials of the commission can award; what the board can approve; what should be sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, and what the Federal Executive Council should handle, in the spirit of transparency and accountability.oil-thieves
Under the PPA, the Managing Director of the NDDC, can award contracts that are not above N200 million while the board can approve jobs that are not above N1 billion. Specifically, any job above N1 billion must be subjected to a competitive bidding process and awarded by the FEC after being processed by the BPP, another agency under the Presidency.
Contract-splitting
However, findings show that the NDDC management has chosen to use contract-splitting as a weapon to award huge contracts beyond its limit without passing through the BPP, thereby making it possible for ‘insiders and their associates,’ particularly influential political elements, to make away with billions of Naira from the commission.
Ignored Jonathan’s directive
The commission under the current board, appeared to have ignored former President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to it not to award new contracts but to strive to complete abandoned ones so as to clear the backlog of funds being owed local contractors.
Contact bazaar
Contrary to the Presidential directive, the new board embarked on contract bazaar within the first two weeks of its inauguration actively acquiring even second-hand exotic vehicles at the cost of new ones.
Documents at the disposal of Saturday Vanguard show that within its first two weeks the managing director single-handedly issued a local purchasing order, LPO, valued at N888,175,500 million to a Port Harcourt-based car dealer to supply 40 assorted vehicles.
Of the vehicles ordered, four were armoured Sport Utility Lexus and Land-cruiser vehicles valued at N213.8 million. It is not clear when the vehicles were supplied and who is using them.
Shortly after the acquisition of the expensive vehicles, the commission ordered the procurement of security vehicles for the Nigeria Police at the cost of N12.5 billion to enable the police provide adequate security for the nine Niger Delta states of Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, Delta, Edo and Ondo.
However, to prevent the huge contract from getting to the BPP and the FEC for scrutiny and approval, the commission carefully split the supply job into 12 slots and awarded it at the cost of N985 million to each of the contractors.
Not done, the NDDC shortly after awarded another contract worth N2.7b to 30 limited liability companies suspected to be owned by close associates of key officials for what it called “Intelligence-gathering and management.” Each of the 30 firms got N99.7 million from the NDDC for the job which should have been handled by the security agencies.
The contract bazaar was quickly followed by another award of N1.6 billion job carefully split among 85 companies for the ‘procurement, transportation and delivery’ of waste disposal trucks to the commission.
Each of the ‘lucky’ contractors got between  N61 million to N835 million depending on the strength of their connections with the top hierarchy of the agency and influential politicians managing the commission.
Internal disagreement
The contract bazaar has even led to some disagreement between the board and some accounting/procurement officials.
In one very despicable case, the commission ignored the professional audit query/advice not to award a ‘Quick-impact’ job valued at N715 million to one person to act as both contractor and consultant.
Brewing trouble
But trouble is currently brewing in the commission following the resolve of some aggrieved management staff and top officials to expose the rot in the establishment, leading to the release of financial malfeasance that has been going on in the place since the last board was inaugurated in November, 2013.
One of the documents indicate that the sum of N1.3 billion was approved and released for NDDC Christian Fellowship and NDDC Children and Disable families end-of-the-year parties.
While the Christian Fellowship reportedly received N500 million, the NDDC children and disable families got N800 million.
The commission is also said to have inexplicably moved the sum of N100 billion from its Access Bank account on Agip Road branch to an undisclosed location, in the heat of the last election, in which Buhari won thereby raising eyebrow among staff and stakeholders.
Petitions
Several petitions have been fired to the Presidency to move against the board and urgently launch a full scale probe into the operations and finances of the NDDC, whose contractual obligations now stand at a frightening N800 billion as of the end of July.
The debt is said to have risen exponentially following the award of frivolous and politically-motivated contracts to individuals and groups by the sacked board in the run-up to the last election.
NIDESTAF petition
One of the petitions now before the Presidency and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC was written by Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum, NIDESTAF.
In the petition dated June 15, 2015 and signed by the President, Benson Georgewill and National Secretary, Timi Oghalle, the stakeholders pleaded with Buhari to urgently raise a  probe panel to  ascertain the true position of the finances of the NDDC.
The group also asked the President to take steps to retrieve the funds of the commission from those found to have illegally taken them.
Director to brief Buhari
The happenings in the commission are said to have infuriated the supervisory department in the OSFG. It was learned that a director in the Presidency has decided to brief PMB, next week, on the massive fraud in the NDCC so as to clear his name and office.
Presidency, NDDC officials speak
But when contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina, said he was not aware of what the President intends to do with the NDCC.
Adesina said the President has not also mandated him to make any categorical statement on the agency.
The Head of Public Affairs of the NDDC, Mr. Ibitoye Abosede, declined to comment on the situation, saying he has no information regarding the issues.

Exclusive: Jonathan Boys launch ‘Operation Demonize Buhari’

                   Insider account of how they plot to checkmate anti-graft campaign! By MARYAM MUSA On the eve of his departure from Aso Rock last May, the then President Goodluck Jonathan resorted to a hare-brained strategy. In a speech that raised not a few eyebrows, given the occasion and timing, he whined that sooner or later after leaving power on May 29, many of his close aides and cabinet members would face sundry ”persecution” under the watch of the incoming APC-led administration. Discerning Nigerians and political analysts alike did not take long to decode Jonathan’s strategy: with the banner of his administration thoroughly stained by the whiff of corruption, maladministration and all manner of executive rascality, the outgoing president needed no soothsayer or prophet to know that the hour of accountability was approaching fast, more so as the man succeeding him is none other than the no-nonsense, incorruptible, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan would, however, rather whip up sentiment and attempt to attract public sympathy than face reality. Rather than focus on his and his aides’ readiness to be accountable and come clean on any deals sealed by his administration, he resorted to so-called ”persecution”. In other words, the gentleman who was roundly trounced in the March 28 Presidential Poll was trying to imply far in advance that any attempt to call Jonathan and Co. to account for his lamentable stewardship would equal to persecution . With the benefit of hindsight, it is now becoming crystal clear that not only was the ex-president crying persecution wolf where there was none: he was laying a foundation for what he would soon become a full-fledged campaign aimed at painting his successor black (so to say) and put him on the defensive. By so doing, DESERT HERALD, gathered, they would thus deflect attention from the monumental economic and financial crimes committed during Jonathan’s six -year presidency. According to high level sources who spoke to DESERT HERALD in confidence, the long and short of the fledging campaign by the Jonathan camp is what one of the brains behind it called “Operation demonize Genaral Buhari in particular and those around him in general” so as to make Nigerians and the international community believe that rather than concentrating on governance Buhari is obsessed with persecuting Jonathan and his loyalists. It was reliably gathered that the decision to mount such an operation was mooted in the last few weeks of the Jonathan era. Spearheaded by a female member of the ex-president’s kitchen cabinet who was in charge of a strategic ministry for the better part of his six-year administration, and one of his top aides who until recently was entangled in a high-profile corruption case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the project reportedly involves ”mobilizing” a number of media houses with a view to hit at the soft underbelly of the Buhari administration. The ”leg soldiers” of this motley gang, according to the information pieced together by this medium, include a former helmsman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who hails from the south west, an incumbent PDP governor of one of the south west states; an erstwhile National Security Adviser; three of the oil marketers embroiled in the lingering fuel subsidy scam, and the publishers of three national dailies (two of which are based in Lagos, while the other is based in Abuja) among a couple of others. Their modus operandi is to sponsor all sorts of cleverly contrived campaigns against the Buhari regime in the traditional media and the social media, an insider who spoke on condition of anonymity, squealed to DESERT HERALD. ”Essentially, most of them would remain in the background pulling the strings, while a few of them would pop out every now and again to add their voices to the media storm, not only to demonize Buhari as supposedly incompetent, visionless, and clueless, but to also tar those around him as self-centered, corrupt and inordinately ambitious”.He added: ”the essence of their ploy is by thus attacking the government motive and integrity, the APC-led administration will perpetually be on the defensive, particularly any time the government sets out to call either Jonathan or any of his associates and former political appointees to account for their actions and inactions. By so doing they would not only put the government on the defensive but ensure that pressure would be mounted on it from all angles, to back down on the so-called persecution of the ex-president and his ilk”An insight into how this ambitious operation, for which tens of billions of naira have allegedly being mobilized, was evident during penultimate week’s siege on the Abuja mansion of the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd). Barely had officers of the Department of State Security (DSS) drove into Dasuki’s palatial residence than chieftains of the hitherto ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) started stoking fire and brimstone. Not even the fact that the DSS had followed due process by obtaining a legally-issued search warrant, would temper the hysteria of the Jonathan camp. PDP’s loquacious spokesman, Olisa Metuh and Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose in particular, ranted endlessly, alleging that the Buhari’s administration was ”Witch Hunting” officials of the immediate past administration. Ignoring the weighty allegations swirling against Dasuki (including alleged treason and economic and finanacial crimes) the duo and their ilk verbally attacked Buhari for alleged human rights violation. Hear the ever-controversial governor Fayose: ”Persecution of PDP stalwarts and others perceived as opposed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government is an ominous sign of imminent return of dictatorship and draconian rule in Nigeria”. Readers may like to take note of the oft-deployed catch-all word, ”persecution”, in Fayose’s speech — a word that is conveniently deployed by every PDP Tom, Dick and Harry at the drop of a hat. Weighing in with reckless glee, Metuh said he had waltzed to Dasuki’s residence immediately he heard that the security agents were questioning the corrupt ex-NSA. ”I came into Abuja because I read the situation about the invasion of the house of the former NSA and his detention and house arrest”, he said ” so I drove to his house to see him and to find out what is happening… the last time this (type of thing) happened was under the military…”Metuh and co obviously conveniently forgot that contraty to his assertion that ”the last time this happened was under the military”, only but recently the DSS had been used countless time by then ruling PDP to trample on the rights of innocent Nigerians with abandon. Right there in Abuja, for instance, the residence of incumbent Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, was invaded in commando-style by the same DSS without any search warrant. Last year Metuh and co winked at this assault. In the same vein, the DSS invaded APC’s ICT centre in the heat of preparations for the last general elections, leaving tears, blood and destruction in their trail. On such occasions Metuh and the then spokesperson of DSS, Miss Merilyn (who has more or less turned herself into PDP’s mouthpiece) gleefully defended that brazen onslaught and attacked all those who questioned the legality of such partisan adventures. No less interesting was the arrest of the publisher of this newspaper, Malam Tukur Mamu, by the same DSS in October 2009; Mamu’s only ”sin” was that his paper had dared to publish a story which the then first lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, considered offensive. Acting on her instruction, the DSS swooped on the publisher and hauled him into detention in a dehumanizing manner. Needless to say, Metuh and his PDP colleagues never hollered the sort of ”persecution” they now invoke with abandon whenever any member of the old administration is called to account. As astonishing as it may seem, when the former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently was admonished to explain how billions of naira vamoosed from the excess crude oil account under her watch, she gave four different versions of the same tale in her futile attempt to explain how the fund was depleted in mysterious circumstances. Yet rather than focus on this outlandish indulgence, the Jonathan apologists descended on Buhari, Governor Adams Oshiomhole and anyone who dared to question the ex-finance minister, calling them unprintable names. Analysts are of the view that given the propensity of the Jonathan boys to attack the messenger rather that the message, coupled with the intimidating war chest they have allegedly mobilized a part of an ”operation demonize Buhari campaign; interesting times lie ahead as more scandalous indulgence of the Jonathan gang are expected to be unearthed in the weeks and months ahead. - See more at: http://desertherald.com/exclusive-jonathan-boys-launch-operation-demonize-buhari/#sthash.e6zAdrqe.dpuf