Eddy Ogunbor

Friday 28 February 2014

'I couldn't believe my luck!': 17-year-old's boast as married teacher, 35, avoids prison for spending the night with him

Teacher Bernadette Smith said to be infatuated with student Gary Ralston
Obsession cost her job and her reputation, Stirling Sheriff Court heard
He said: 'I was thinking I was quite lucky. A lot of the boys fancied her'
Smith under supervision for two years as part of community payback order

A woman teacher who spent the night in a pupil’s bed wearing only her jeans and bra has narrowly avoided a prison sentence.
Bernadette Smith was said to be infatuated with Gary Ralston, who was 16 at the time.
That obsession cost the married 35-year-old her job and reputation, a court heard.

Abuse of trust: Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told Smith (left), 35, who kissed Gary, then 16, (right) and lay beside him wearing only jeans and a bra, that she had committed a serious abuse of trust. She was spared jail

Waived anonymity: Gary, now 17, in his bedroom where one of the incidents took place. He said his relationship with Smith, who was his teacher during third, fourth and fifth year, began during secret meetings at school

Gary, who waived his anonymity to speak of their relationship, said Smith had been his favourite teacher before she targeted him for particular attention.
He said: ‘I was thinking I was quite lucky. A lot of the boys fancied her. I couldn’t believe she was with me. It was the last thing I expected. She said she thought she was going crazy but couldn’t help the way she was feeling.’
Placing the mother of three under a supervision order yesterday, Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told her she had committed a serious abuse of trust.

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He said it was only the fact that she had not gone further with the boy that had saved her from a jail sentence.
Gary revealed how his relationship with Smith, who was his teacher during third, fourth and fifth year, began during secret meetings at school.
‘When I started year six, Bernadette was no longer my teacher, but we’d pass each other in the corridor, say hello and smile,’ he said. He said that Smith later summoned him to her classroom.
‘I walked in and as soon as I sat down she said, “Ever since we’ve been back at school and I’ve seen you around, I’ve been realising I have feelings for you”,’ he said.

Sexual misconduct: Bernadette Smith, left and right leaving court, drove the boy to a park and kissed him

Describing himself as ‘curious’ and ‘excited’, Gary agreed to meet the history and English teacher on September 13 last year.
The pair drove to a park in Falkirk, Scotland, and went for a walk but when they got back to the car, Smith kissed him passionately.
Gary said he worried for Smith’s job, husband and family but said she ‘didn’t seem too bothered’.
He confided in his father, who warned him to be careful but his grandmother called Bannockburn High School to complain. Smith was suspended immediately.
Despite their relationship being made public, they stayed together the next night at Gary’s home in Cowie.

The affair started in Smith's classroom at Bannockburn High School, Stirling, where she confessed her feelings to the boy, before the pair went to a park and had their first kiss

Gary said: ‘We got ready for bed and I felt nervous. I got into bed with my boxers on. She took off her top, but kept her bra and jeans on, and slid in beside me.
‘We cuddled and talked – nothing else happened.’

His father Richard Ralston, 42, said: ‘I wasn’t pleased about what happened, but you’re an adult at 16 in Scotland so I didn’t want to interfere too much.
‘I want Gary to make decisions and learn from any mistakes.’
Prosecutor Ann Orr told Stirling Sheriff Court that when interviewed, Smith said ‘she loved the boy and they both wanted to be together’. She admitted kissing Gary and staying the night in his bedroom.
There was no suggestion that Gary had suffered any long-term harm, the court was told.
Smith, of Denny, Stirlingshire, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a pupil while in a position of trust, between September 13 and 20 last year.

Gary, now 17, revealed how his relationship with Smith, who was his teacher during his third, fourth and fifth years, blossomed during secret meetings at Bannockburn high school

She was placed under supervision for two years and will remain on the sex offenders’ register for the same period.

Her solicitor, Andrew Gibb, said she was suspended by the General Teaching Council for Scotland and would be struck off at a hearing in a few weeks’ time. She has also separated from her husband.
Sheriff Robertson told the court Smith’s conduct was towards the lesser end of the offending scale, adding: ‘It is serious enough of course when a teacher admits this kind of conduct towards a pupil.
'We expect teachers to ensure children under their care are safe from abuse and that has not happened.’
He told Smith that it may have been that ‘difficulties within your marriage contributed to this aberration’, but he said many other teachers coped without resorting to such ‘bizarre’ behaviour.
He said it was to her ‘credit’ that she had not blamed her victim and she was assessed as at low risk of re-offending. He ordered her to return to court on November 12 for a supervision order review.

DailyMail

Nigeria’s National Judicial Council Forces 2 Judges Into Compulsory Retirement, Reprimands 3 Others

The National Judicial Council of Nigeria today rose from its quarterly meeting in Abuja sanctioning five Nigerian judges for different acts of corruption, gross misconduct and low productivity. First to be axed was a federal high court judge Gladys Olotu, while Mrs. olotu was forced into retirement for delivering a judgement that had lasted for 7 years, Saharareporters learnt that Mrs. loot’s real crime was due to investigative reports by the Economic and financial crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing her of owning several accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, First Bank (United Kingdom), as well as significant stock in various companies. She is also reported to own several properties in Abuja, Lagos and Benin. A source said Ms. Olotu is believed to be worth more than N2 billion in cash, going by findings by EFCC and other investigators.
A statement issued by the the National Judicial Council meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, at its meeting which held on 26th February, 2014 has recommended the compulsory retirement from office of Justice G.K. Olotu of the Federal High Court and Hon. Justice U. A. Inyang of High Court of Justice of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, respectively for gross misconduct.
See the full text of the NJC statement below:
Justice G. K. Olotu was recommended for compulsory retirement from office to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, pursuant to the ‘Findings” by the Council on the following allegations inter-alia, contained in the petitions written against His Lordship:-
· That the Judge failed to deliver Judgment only to deliver same in Suit No. FHC/UY/250/2003, eighteen months after the final Address by all the Counsel in the suit, contrary to the Constitutional provisions that Judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days;
· The Hon. Judge admitted before the Fact Finding Committee of the Council that investigated the allegations that she forgot she had a pending Ruling to deliver in an application for Joinder; and
· That the Judge entertained a post Judgment matter in Suit No. FHC/UY/CS/250/2003 in Port Harcourt after delivering Judgment, which made her functus officio.
· That in another case: Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/505/2012, Hon. Justice Olotu failed to deliver judgment twice.
Hon. Justice U. A. Inyang of High Court of Justice of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was also recommended for compulsory retirement from office to President Jonathan, sequel to the “Findings” of the Council on the following allegations leveled against His Lordship:-
· That the Judge included in his Judgment, references to the Garnishee Proceedings, which came after the Judgment had been delivered on 20th December, 2011.
· That His Lordship also included the name of the Counsel to Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru, SAN, who came into the matter after the judgment of 20th December, 2011 was delivered;
· That the Judge recklessly signed a Writ of Execution, a day after delivering his judgment of 20th December, 2011, the same day a Notice of Appeal and Motion on Notice for Stay of Execution were filed.
· That the Judge continued with the Garnishee Proceedings despite application for Stay of Execution; and
· That before delivering his Judgment of 20th December, 2011, Hon. Justice Inyang ignored a properly filed Motion on Notice for leave to file additional witness Statement on Oath.
In the meantime, the National Judicial Council has in the exercise of its disciplinary powers under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, suspended the two Judges from office with immediate effect.
The Council also issued warning letters to Hon. Justice Dalhatu Adamu, CFR, the Presiding Justice of Court of Appeal Kaduna Division, Hon. Justice A. A. Adeleye of High Court of Justice, Ekiti State and Hon. Justice D. O. Amaechina of High Court of Justice, Anambra State, respectively.
Hon. Justice Dalhatu Adamu, CFR was warned by Council at its Meeting which was held on 26th February, 2014 for deliberately absenting himself from duty, which is an act of gross misconduct contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and the Code of Conduct of Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It would be recalled that Council at its last Meeting which was held on 4th and 5th December, 2013 considered and deliberated on the Report of its Five-Man Committee who were mandated to invite Judicial Officers with Very Low performance or Non-performance to appear before it. At the end of deliberation on the Report of the Committee, Council found Hon. Justice A. A. Adeleye of High Court of Justice, Ekiti State and Hon. Justice D. O. Amaechina of High Court of Justice, Anambra State, respectively culpable of very low performance. Consequently, Council decided to issue warning letters to them for decline in their productivity.

OsunDefender

EDITORIAL: Boko Haram attacks, an inept government and the survival of the Nigerian state

On Tuesday, in an act of breathtaking savagery, members of the extremist Boko Haram sect murdered more than 40 innocent children in their school in Yobe State. For sheer barbarism, there is nothing to compare it – except of course the killing last year of another set of students in Borno State by the same vicious group.
Over the last five years, Boko Haram has been responsible for the most violent death of Nigerians outside the civil war. It is the worst threat to national security and even national unity.
Yet we continue to prevaricate. We are still not sure whether to woo them with amnesty or mow them with bullets.
Even the presidency which is privy to more facts than the rest of us seemed to think that we exaggerate the menace of the deadly Boko Haram sect. Or perhaps it just likes to play down the threat, in the hope that we will be lulled into a false sense of security.
Last week when the harried governor of Borno State, Kashim Shetima came to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan after another horror attack on a sleepy community, he told the press that what we face was war and that our army was less equipped and less motivated than the enemy.
Anyone who has followed events in that unfortunate part of the country knows that the governor had merely stated the truth. Yet the president and his handlers decided to subject him to very brutal attacks. The Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, accused the governor of peddling hysteria while the president himself used his last presidential media chat to lambast Mr. Shettima .
After Tuesday’s savage attack however, we now know who suffer from hysterics and histrionics. The presidency has made the usual condemnation, issued renewed marching orders and offered condolences. There is even talk of the army chief temporarily relocating to Maiduguri.
The Chief of Army Staff, General, Kenneth Minimah who appeared before a Senate Committee to defend his budget said the army did indeed needed more money, and more arms. In essence, the governor was right: we are not winning this war. Not yet.
But there is no talk of a presidential visit. In not standing by the governor, in never visiting the schools and villages where all the mayhem took place, President Goodluck Jonathan has deepened the people’s sense of abandonment. He has given the impression, unwittingly perhaps, that the lives of those children mean less than they should.
The sorrow of their parents will find no relief in the visit of the nation’s leader. In any civilized democracy, such a massacre would have merited at least one condolence visit by the President to the school. Indeed, the president would have been judged by how well he responded to the crisis, including whether he had shown the right amount of emotion. The quality of his empathy would have been the subject of intense national discourse for a long while. And how his visit was judged would have reflected on the opinion polls, with serious bearing on his presidency.
If we have any sense at all, the next elections will be lost or won solely on this administration’s record on security or the quality of the opposition’s alternative strategy. We cannot continue to condone a situation where a group of terrorists kill at will, cheapening the very essence of our being.
The taking of any human life is a horrible thing. The brutal murder of over 40 students in a boarding school is the height of bestiality. It is also proof that the government has failed in its most important task of protecting the lives of the people. There is no way of sugarcoating this fact, and no public relations gimmick can put a fine face on this matter.
This country cannot long bear the kind of savagery that took place on Tuesday. No government, indeed no system, can survive this sort of impunity.

PremiumTimes

What Does Tambuwal Want?

280214N.Tambuwal.jpg - 280214N.Tambuwal.jpg

Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal

Personality Focus

After several months of publicly siding with the All Progressives Congress, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, remains unable to declare for the opposition. His prevarication has left many wondering what the speaker wants. Ojo M. Maduekwe writes

As political re-alignments continue to take shape in the country ahead the 2015 elections, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, appears to be in dilemma. His political career is at stake here. It’s unclear whether he is for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) or remains with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Many hold the view that although his body is with the PDP; his soul belongs to the APC. Tambuwal has come out to deny claims that his allegiance was with the opposition. Those close to him, like many Nigerians, believe that his remaining in the PDP is just to bid time and watch the turn of events. They believe that he’s resolved to leave the PDP. When and to which party, no one knows.

The leadership of the APC has not stopped wooing the Speaker to defect from the PDP and become one of their members. It was reported last year that former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and a national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, held a private meeting with the Speaker to persuade him to join the party.

As well, it was allegedly reported that when last year the five PDP governors, out of the defunct G-7, who dumped the PDP for the APC, engaged in a private meeting with Buhari, Tinubu and the APC governor’s at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, Tambuwal was at the meeting briefly for about 30 minutes, before leaving.

Presently, Tambuwal is even more pressured being that the governor of his state, Aliyu Wamakko, had since left the PDP and defected to the APC. Normally, like the House of Representatives members and Senators who followed their governors in defecting to the APC, Tambuwal was expected to follow in the footsteps of his governor, Wamakko.

At the time Wamakko was suspended by the national leadership of the PDP, as was then led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the governor had described Tukur as an incompetent party leader who should be sacked immediately, saying, “The people of the state are not fighting PDP but injustice and unfairness.”

Seen by Wamakko during the declaration was Tambuwal, who was reported to have pledged the continuous loyalty of all the National Assembly members from the state to Wamakko and the PDP, maintaining that under the leadership of Wamakko, the state remained a united political family.

“The purported suspension is of no effect to us and there is no retreat or surrender. Wamakko will continue to be our leader even after he finished his term as a governor,” Tambuwal was reported to have said.

Political watchers said his refusal to join Wamakko, after making such a bold appearance, was a deft political calculation. They thought he needed to observe how the defection in the House would unfold before deciding whether it was wise to defect or maintain the status quo for the time being.

But it appears ironic that after years of frolicking with the APC and shunning many events and gathering sponsored by his party, the Speaker himself is alleged to be unsure where to pledge his allegiance; hence his reported recent consultation around the country.

He was in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the weekend, allegedly to consult with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, another PDP stalwart whose membership of the party remains suspect. After the closed-door meeting, Tambuwal briefed journalists that his visit to Obasanjo was to consult on ‘matters of national interest.’ He would even cite the PIB bill as an example.

“Baba Obasanjo is a leader not only in Nigeria but in Africa, and it is only appropriate for us in positions of authority and leadership to occasionally come and consult Baba on matters of national interest.”

Submitting that he was still a member of PDP, Tambuwal, regarding the suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi by President Jonathan said “Whether it (the suspension) is lawful, legal or illegal, the personality involved has told everybody that he is going to court and I believe he is already in court on that suspension.”

Afterwards, the Speaker visited the State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, where he described the on-going urban renewal programme in the state as a display of politics of development, noting that the state government, for its successes in terms of infrastructural development, has re-defined the state’s landscape.

“I was even asking myself where the governor has gotten the money for these laudable road projects. This is my first official visit to Abeokuta and I can tell you that I am impressed by what I have seen. Sometime last year, I was in Ijebu-Ode and I saw what the governor is doing there too,” he said. Amosun is APC and Tambuwal’s comment was certainly an endorsement.

It is expected that by now Tambuwal should know which party to pitch tent, but looking at the Speaker’s situation from his standpoint, one gets a clearer picture of his dilemma. Although the PDP has never been home for him, due to the way he emerged as Speaker, APC’s failure to maintain its short-lived majority position in the House is not helping Tambuwal’s case.

With the PDP leading the House, the rumour is that should Tambuwal defect to the APC, with the current House classification, there’s the likelihood that PDP, through its numerical strength, wouldn’t hesitate in taking over control of the House leadership and relegating Tambuwal to an ordinary House member.

Perhaps, the proper question Nigerians should be asking is not what Tambuwal wants but what he’s waiting for. It’s been long established that all things being equal, the Speaker of the House would defect to the APC. But as it looks, with the PDP regaining majority lead in the House, he won’t be defecting soon. Doing so would be suicidal, and could cost him the Speakership, obviously.

Naturally, Tambuwal wouldn’t have had so much challenge if elections into public offices, especially in the complexity called Nigeria, were all about achievements, without regards to political intrigues, calculations and scheming. If that was so, then Tambuwal would not have found himself in this dilemma of trying to adjust to the changing political dynamism in Nigeria.

What does Tambuwal want other than to further his political career and remain relevant, under a political party that shares same ideology as he does? There have been speculations that the APC may want to field him for the presidential election in 2015. Also is the rumour that his state governor, Wamakko, would likely be handing Sokoto over to him in 2015.

However, the speculated presidential kite seems most likely being that as the number four man in the country at the moment, going to become governor of Sokoto State in 2015 might appear more like a demotion. Besides, many believe that with the bridges he’s built as Speaker of the House of Representatives, such achievements would serve him well if he were to lead Nigeria as president.

Former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, was reported earlier in the year 2013 to have said Tambuwal’s conduct “has shown that the upcoming generation has the capacity to sustain the labour of our heroes past. When leaders like Tambuwal have delivered on their electoral promise, we advise them to try something higher.” A shot at the presidency is higher and more prestigious than vying for Sokoto governorship, many would reckon.

If he decides to observe Babangida’s advice and take a shot at the presidency, many Nigerians believe he has more chances with the APC than the PDP which never liked his outspokenness and public romance with the opposition. Also, whichever party he decides to pitch tent with, it is believed that his credentials speak volumes for him and Nigerians will most likely back him.

Although his failure to decide on time may cause some time-bound damage, it does not really matter what those opposed to the Speaker think, because from his achievements and quality leadership, the fact remains that Tambuwal is a material for the future and poignantly, an asset to Nigeria.

ThisDay

Boko Haram attacks: Governor Nyako blames Nigerian government, says emergency rule defeated

Governor Murtala Nyako

Mr. Nyako blasts the federal government for poor handling of the Boko Haram crisis
By, Babayola Jauro
As anger and frustration continues to mount over the incessant killings by suspected Boko Haram members, the Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, on Thursday said the federal government imposed state of emergency in affected states had failed.
Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe have been under emergency rule since May 2013.
Mr. Nyako in an interview with journalists in Adamawa on Thursday said the Boko Haram crisis was getting out of hand and new strategies were needed to tackle it.
The governor was reacting to the latest attacks by the sect in Madagali and Michika, in Adamawa. He said the state of emergency slammed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States had been defeated.
Mr. Nyako criticised the federal government, which controls all Nigeria’s security agencies, for failing to foil Monday’s attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, where at least 29 students were killed. He said the attack was predictable since school children had previously been murdered in the same way, in the same state.
“There is no excuse whatsoever. We want to know more from the authorities. By now, the authorities should be able to know what is happening. We should be able to know where these arms are manufactured and even the signatures of the weapons. We ought to know who ordered it, who paid for it, how did it come to the country, from where were they shipped, through which port in Nigeria they arrived and who cleared it.
“President, Vice President, Governors and the military – they are the only groups that pass checkpoints without being searched and which of these groups are conveying these arms to the scene of the action. We want to know,” he stated.
He alleged negligence on the part of security officials in preventing several attacks including that on the school and in the death of a retired army general, Mamman Shuwa, in 2012.
The governor said the army often failed to respond during the course of attacks by the outlawed sect. He demanded to know why there was always delay in the military’s response to attacks.
“The other aspect is that army withdrew from the checkpoint, before the attack in Yadi –Buni, who ordered the withdrawal. We also have a case where General Shuwa was killed by so called Boko Haram. There are army unit there but they didn’t respond during the incident, who told them not to respond, when Shuwa was being attack?
“The air force base was being raided, there is unit of army nearby, who gave them order not to response until all the aircraft were destroyed?
“These are questions that need answers. So either this thing is controlled by unknown fellows or unknown Boko Haram strategic commanders in the defence system or staged-managed. We have reached a point to come out and tell them our displeasure over the way the situation is escalating,’’ he said.
He said the recent attacks in a nation already fatigued by Boko Haram killings had ridiculed President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim of success against the sect.

Premium Times

Published: February 27,2014

Governor Murtala Nyako

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Indian Neurosurgeon Arrested For Practicing Without Licence

A team of delegates from Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) headed by Professor Innocent Achanya Otobo Ujah, Director General, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr. Abdulmumini- A. Ibrahim, Registrar

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has arrested an Indian Neurosurgeon, Dr. Raju Bhuvaneswara for operating without a practice licence.
The council who went with policemen from Apo resettlement Division on Monday in Abuja, arrested the 53 years old doctor at Asokoro District Hospital in the Federal Capital Territory.
He was said to have been conducting Neurosurgical operations at Asokoro District Hospital for more than a year without licence from MDCN, the regulating agency for doctors and dentists in the country.
Basina was performing a Craniotomy (brain surgery) in an operating theatre when police and MDCN’s inspectorate officials led by Dr. Henry Okwuokenye arrived at the Hospital for his arrest.
The team was also accompanied by President of the Guild of Medical Directors, Dr. Tony Phillips.
The Chief Medical Director of Asokoro Hospital, Dr. Ahmadu Abubakar, had to prevail on officials of MDCN to wait for him to finish his surgery before thy could pick him up.
Okwuokenye who is Head (Inspectorate Unit) of MDCN, told journalists that investigations have revealed that Basina had already been working as a Doctor at Asokoro Hospital for many months before eventually applying for a licence in August last year.
He said, “The MDCN is yet to process Basina’s application while response from our counterpart in India’s medical regulating agency is pending.
But Basina has continued to work on contract, insisting that he had applied.
According to him, mere application did not constitute the temporary licence meant for Doctors who are trained outside Nigeria adding that Basina should have waited for response before practicing.
“We wrote a letter to India to tell us about the status and license of Basina but they are yet to get back to us.
Although he claimed to have applied, mere application is not a license to practice.
When we asked him of a Doctor could practice in India without license, he said No. Why then is he practicing in Nigeria? Time has come for us to sanitize the system, Nigeria is not a banana Republic where anything can happen”, Okwuokenye stated.
Among documents Basina filed in his application are photocopies of credentials from Nazims Institute of Medical Sciences and Rangaraya Medical College.
As at the time of this report, it was not clear if Basina has been granted bail by the police.
During talks with regulation officials at the Hospital, Basina insisted he trained in the United States among other places, but added that getting a practice licence in Nigeria was too long and inconvenient.
At a point, he insisted that practicing licences were easily ordered “over the phone” in India or took “less than two days” in the US.
“Can I do this in India? I go to india, I apply, and while waiting for them, I start practising?”, Okwuokenye queried.
Okwuokenye insisted that an “application was not equivalent to licence”, pointing out that there were other Indian and foreign doctors practicing in Nigeria with due licensing.
He said the MDCN was committed to clamping down on undue practice by persons claiming to be Doctors in new crackdown ordered by its Registrar/CEO, Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim.
At least three separate cases involving improper licencing are facing prosecution in court, the council revealed.
Basina is in his second one-year contract at the Hospital but his arrest questions how his contract was renewed, his services hired or posted to Asokoro DH without a practice licence
The FCT Administration, through its establishment unit and Health Secretariat, centrally hires and posts Doctors to its district hospitals, managed by the Hospitals Management Board.

Leadership

Reps Probe: Nigeria Loses $8bn Yearly To Crude Oil Swap

Adesuwa Tsan And Edegbe Odemwingie

Nigeria loses a staggering $8 billion yearly to the Crude Oil-Product Exchange, otherwise known as crude oil swap arrangement.
This was revealed at a joint House of Representatives Public Hearing into alleged shady transactions between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and two top oil companies in Switzerland, Vitol and Trafigura.
In the crude swap deal, oil trading companies are allowed to lift crude oil in exchange of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.
The joint House Committees on Petroleum Resources Uptream, Downstream and Justice conducting, the probe observed that in most cases, some of the companies involved lift crude oil without commensurate product being supplied.
According to documents obtained by LEADERSHIP from the committee, the NNPC allocated 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the following companies: Vitol Ltd, Trafigura, Mercuria, Glencore, Taleveras Nigeria Ltd, Sahara Energy Ltd, Etenal Oil and Gas Ltd, Aiteo Nigeria Limited, Ontario Oil and Gas and Rahmaniya Oil and Gas.
The joint committee remarked that Nigeria loses $8 billion yearly in under-delivered products from the crude oil swap arrangement.
Again, based on a report submitted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and obtained by LEADERSHIP, four of the oil trading firms “under-delivered” products in 2011.
They are: Trafigura (173,786,600 litres); Trafigura (654,440.7 litres); Taliveras (152,308,878 litres); Aiteo Nigeria Limited (193,046,590 litres) and Ontario Oil and Gas (180,278,732 litres).
The total under-delivered products according to NEITI amounted to 500,075,239.3 litres in 2011.
The crude swap deal based on the report from NEITI is a drainpipe as Nigeria has lost huge revenue. It was also alleged that some of the oil trading companies owed the NNPC products worth over $800 million.
It was further alleged that Duke Oil Company (a 100 per cent subsidiary company of NNPC) was brought in as a middle player to protect some of the local companies being used in the deal.
However, the NNPC in a presentation at the Public Hearing stated that the crude oil-refined products exchange agreement with Duke Oil Company started in February 1, 2011. PPMC allocates 90,000 barrels of crude oil to Duke Oil Company in exchange for the delivery of refined products equivalent to value of the Crude Oil.
According to NNPC Duke Oil Company operates and manages the swap arrangement my loading three cargoes through its nominated operators Messrs Aiteo Energy Resources Ltd, Ontario Oil and Gas Ltd and Taleveras Group. Each company handles 30,000 barrels per day crude oil contract which represents one cargo of about 950,000 barrels per month and delivers an equivalent value of refined petroleum products in cargo sizes of 27,000MT tto 38,000MT, or as maybe agreed by both parties on behalf of Duke oil.
The NNPC stated that at the time of the contract to Duke Oil in 2011, the company did not have sufficient capacity to operate the contract. It therefore subcontracted the 90,000bpd to the nominated operators Messrs Aiteo Energy Resources Ltd, Ontario Oil and Gas Ltd and Taleveras Group to operate the contract at the rate of 30,000 barrels per day per company.
Berne Declaration:‎ $6.8 Billion Oil Scam
Meanwhile, the NNPC yesterday opened up on its alleged shady transactions with the Swiss oil firms, insisting that the loss of $6.8 billion (as alleged in a 2013 report) in its transactions with the Swiss oil firms was not a “remote possibility”.
A November 2013 report titled “Swiss Traders’ Opaque Deals in Nigeria”, published by Berne Declaration, a Switzerland-based non-governmental advocacy group alleged among others that Nigeria loses yearly “billions of dollars” as large volumes of oil are exported below the market price, and the subsidy scheme for imports of refined crude oil products is systematically defrauded.
The report accused Swiss firms, Vitol and Trafigura, of colluding with NNPC to siphone subsidy payments to the tune of $6.8 billion in two years, an allegation a joint House of Representatives Committee yesterday opened an investigative Public Hearing to verify.
Speaking at the House hearing, NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu at debunked the claim by the Bernes Declaration that the NNPC in collaboration with Swiss Oil Trading Companies disposed the country’s crude oil at prices lower than market value.
“We submit that our pricing strategy is aligned to international best practice in the industry. Our prices are based on a reference to the bench mark crude Brent whose prices are published by Platts for the international trading community,” Yakubu told the joint House Committe probing the NNPC transaction.
The NNPC GMD said the corporation’s pricing strategy apply to all buyers of Nigerian crude based on the terms prescribed in the General Sales Agreement entered by all parties.
“we see no remote possibility of the loss of USD6.8 billion from sales below market value to the companies described by the petitioners as “Swiss Trading Companies”.
On the alleged sale of 36 per cent of total country’s crude oil to Vitol and Trafigura, the NNPC GMD rejected allegations that the NNPC unduly favoured the Swiss firms.
He said by the corporation’s records Vitol and Trafigura account for 30.7 million barrels out of the total of 341.07 million barrels disposed by the Corporation in 2013 lifting.
“The lifting of Trafigura and Vitol in 2013 therefore represents 9% of the total lifting as against 36% reported by the “Bernes Declaration”. Additionally Nigerian traders collectively account for 98.2 million barrels during the same period. The other international traders including the “Swiss Trading Companies” account for 61.2 million barrels while off-shore and the Nigerian refineries took 36.2 and 38.3 million barrels respectively.”
He said the selection of buyers of Nigerian crude are done on transparent and competitive basis that seeks to establish financial and technical capabilities, promotion of Nigerian Content and general quality safety assurance.
On the allegation by Bernes Declaration that 100 per cent of Nigerian crude are disposed through Private Trading Companies rather than the Corporation selling directly to the market with attendant loss of trading margins, the NNPC GMD said the country’s marketing strategy of the disposal of Nigerian crude is sale on Free-on-Board (FOB) basis.
He said the model allows the transfer of delivery risk to off-takers at the loading port and is standard practice by most National Oil Companies (NOCs).
On the sale of un-utilised Crude Oil at knock down prices to Swiss Companies through the Crude Oil-Product Exchange (“Swap Arrangement”), the NNPC GMD stated that the claims by the Bernes Declaration are “baseless and without material substance”.
He requested the House Committe to set aside the allegation “in its entirety”.
“The Swap Arrangement referred to by the Bernes Declaration is a known practice in the industry where equivalent value of product is exchanged for crude oil offtake. This is a typical procurement strategy for supply constraint but resource dependant nations to hedge for supply security challenges. It is to be noted that the NNPC delivers the international market value of the crude to the Federation on the basis of the General Sales Agreement and Conditions. There is therefore no value loss to the Federation”.

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