NNPC took it upon themselves to award
the contract, claiming that an executive order issued from the
Presidency demands that the contract be awarded immediately.
The terms of reference of the contract is meant to last for five
renewable months, coming with some other conditions spelling out
penalties that may attend loss of products or breaches to parts of the
length of the pipeline," one of the officials stated.
Controversy
is said to be currently trailing the award of oil facilities
surveillance contract to a the tune of $18.48million by the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), without adherence to the nation's
Public Procurement Act, which is a violation of extant rules.
SaharaReporters
reliably learnt that on September 26, 2018, NNPC approved the contract
for the security surveillance of the 87-kilometre Trans-Forcados
Pipeline (TFP) to Ocean Marine Solution Limited, owned by a Benin
business mogul, Captain Hosa Okunbo, at $18.48 million.
Expressing
displeasure over the way the contract was awarded, officials of the
Joint Venture Partners who spoke in confidence with SaharaReporters,
said the contract was done in secret and characterised by fraud,
alleging that it was in violation of the Public Procurement Act, the
statutory rule guiding how public contracts and services are awarded. As
a result, they have refused to agree to the new contract terms with
Ocean Marine because of the "inflated value".
One of the
officials said: "The contract has started raising dust in various
circles. We are the operators of the asset; we refused to agree to the
new contract terms with Ocean Marine because of the inflated value which
will eventually be paid by us through ‘Cash Call’. NPDC could not
proceed with signing off on the contract because we, the Joint Venture
Partners, had declined.
"Following
the decline, NNPC took it upon themselves to award the contract,
claiming that an executive order issued from the Presidency demands that
the contract be awarded immediately. The terms of reference of the
contract is meant to last for five renewable months, coming with some
other conditions spelling out penalties that may attend loss of products
or breaches to parts of the length of the pipeline."
Another
official who spoke to SaharaReporters said: “There are many questions
on the lips of the people demanding answers, such as what is the
rational for re-awarding a running contract to a new contractor, at a
value almost four times the rate it had previously been awarded to the
former contractor? Who issued the said Executive Order? Why the secrecy
and why shut out others who could deliver same service at a far lesser
bid?
"Why exclude the previous contractor, who had
delivered an impeccable service, because there were no negative
incidents on the facilities for the period the former contractor ran it.
The NNPC, with all its baggage, must provide answers to these
questions. I guess you are aware that there have been a couple of very
shady and questionable events that have been reported out of the
corporation in the last few months, bordering on the question of
non-remittance of accruals as well as awards that fell short of meeting
due process.
"I think
President Buhari should take another look at the way that place is being
run by those he has placed in charge. NNPC is directly under his watch
and things like this can’t be sailing every time and he should expect us
to continue believing he is still a man of integrity."
Our
correspondent gathered that the Joint Venture Partners, including
Heritage Energy Operational Services Ltd and Shoreline Natural
Resources, are said not to be in good working relationship with the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), over the alleged
fraudulent manner the contract was awarded.
Speaking on the
process leading to the approval of the contract, an official of the
Delta State Government, specifically in the Ministry of Justice, who
preferred not to be named, said the process was full of "sharp
practices".
"You see this issue concerning the award of the
contract, which was among the issues that made the youth lead a protest
to the Government House in Asaba a few weeks ago, is a very pathetic and
controversial one. Our ministry has been relating with some of these
Joint Venture partners and along the line, we got know that the contract
was a backdoor deal among few individuals in NNPC," he said.
A
former House of Assembly member from the Delta South senatorial district
and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also with
information about the contract, raised several objections over the
manner the contract was awarded.
He
said: "This is in violation of the Public Procurement Act, which is the
statutory rule guiding how public contracts and services are awarded.
First, it is stipulated that no contract from the tune of $20million can
be awarded by any MDA without deliberation and the express permission
of the Federal Executive Council. This approval by the NNPC, although
cleverly spread so that it will look like it has not reached the
$20million threshold, has violated that act.
"No
one is happy over the arbitrary and unexplained inflation of the
contract sum, as well as the choice of the NNPC to beat the standing
rule that no ministry, department and agency can award a contract that
is up to $20million in value; others are expressing their concerns as
well. This is just a conduit pipe contract to fund the APC campaigns in
the 2019 general elections."
In his remarks on the matter,
spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Daniel Dasimaka, highlighted
the inherent security threat associated with the new contract approved
by the NNPC to Ocean Marine, adding that they might not have paid
attention to the serious threat this poses to the peace and security of
the communities and Delta State in general.
"There's a running
contract, approved by the operators of the assets to a contactor that
has been doing an awesome job on the assets; no reports of negative
incidents and the communities are happy. Imagine the sort of tension
that has greeted this new approval in just a few days, the silent and
cold wars. This is a latent crisis situation on our hands and I won't
buy the narrative that they never envisaged a war from this.
"Why
award an already running contract to another company and the contract
now inflated to about five times the rate of the initial contract.
Awarding a security job to two different companies, in an area that is
considered volatile is a perfect recipe for chaos and a sabotage to the
relative peace of the area. Polarizing the youth bodies and ex agitators
is only a recipe for renewed militancy.
"The mindset of the
youth is often times focused on destroying or attacking oil
infrastructure to gain relevance and recognition. NNPC should not create
the opportunity for this to happen.
My appeal will go first
to the GMD of the NNPC to have a second look at this security-risk of an
action. Why approve such a huge contract without the input of the
operators? Is it for lack of better coordination or is there something
that the eyes mustn't see?
The IYC spokesman, therefore,
called on all security agencies, the DSS, Nigerian Armed Forces and the
Police to address the situation.
Youth and ex-militants from the
111 communities who are hosts to OML 30 assets had raised the alarm over
an impending chaos in their communities and the state, on the
allegation that the NNPC's alliance with Ocean Marine was about to
deprive them of their means of livelihood.
When contacted, Ndu
Ughamadu, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the
NNPC, declined to comment immediately our correspondent introduced the
issue, saying "Please I am in a meeting, call back in an hour." When
a call was put across to him after an hour, he asked our correspondent
to redirect his inquiry to his WhatsApp line, which was done. However,
he did not responded.
