It was Dangote’s first foray into the testy windstorm of whistleblowing — and what a hurricane it has unleashed. The usually taciturn Dangote, Africa’s richest and biggest employer of labour, apparently refused to stand akimbo while his $20 billion investment in the continent’s biggest petroleum refinery goes burst. He would not watch idly as Nigeria’s generational disease, corruption, which has eaten up the destinies of millions of people and is poised to continue to stall every developmental effort, destroys his investment.
I was going to launch a campaign for President Tinubu to sack the minister of petroleum, until I remembered that the petroleum portfolio is firmly under the belt of the selfsame Excellency to whom I was going to direct my appeal.
There had been too much opaqueness and too many befuddling — obviously unpatriotic — decisions taken by the regulators of the oil industry in the recent past. All the government-owned refineries had been deliberately sabotaged over the years, with billions of dollars flushed down the drain under the guise of turnaround maintenance. Nigeria became a net importer of refined petroleum products until Dangote Refinery came on board.
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And then, the so-called Nigerian factor set in. Middlemen who had been making a fortune at the expense of the people since the successful grounding of the government owned refineries, insisted on continuing the sleaze. They insisted on acting as a bridge between Dangote and the consumer. Their greedy cut was going to be more than the refinery itself was making per litre — all at the expense of the consumer.
To force Dangote’s hand, the marketers, with the backing of and their allies in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), continued importing petrol to undermine Dangote Refinery. Talk about importing coal in Enugu!
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Aliko Dangote was riled.
Whistleblower
It was Dangote’s first foray into the testy windstorm of whistleblowing — and what a hurricane it has unleashed. The usually taciturn Dangote, Africa’s richest and biggest employer of labour, apparently refused to stand akimbo while his $20 billion investment in the continent’s biggest petroleum refinery goes burst. He would not watch idly as Nigeria’s generational disease, corruption, which has eaten up the destinies of millions of people and is poised to continue to stall every developmental effort, destroys his investment.
He hit the media racetrack firing on all cylinders! First, he accused the NMDPRA of economic sabotage. He denounced it for continuing to issue import licences for petroleum products, thereby frustrating domestic refiners and entrenching dependence on imports. He alleged that the NMDPRA was colluding with international traders and oil importers to the detriment of local operators.
He called out the chief executive of NMDPRA, Engineer Farouk Ahmed. The man had been living above his legitimate earnings, alleged Dangote. The business mogul claimed that Ahmed’s children attended secondary schools in Switzerland at costs running into several millions of dollars. The full details are quite scandalous and eye-popping!
President Tinubu has quickly accepted the resignation of Farouk Ahmed and his colleague, Gbenga Komolafe of the NUPRC. They have been replaced by Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA, subject to the confirmation of the Senate. The two agencies, NUPRC and NMDPRA, have the statutory responsibility of ensuring compliance with petroleum laws, regulations and guidelines in the upstream and downstream sectors, respectively.
Now, this is not an issue of knocking a man when he is already down. This is a matter of accountability. If the Nigerian government truly wants to be taken seriously about its anti-corruption campaign, here is an opportunity to demonstrate openness. Aliko Dangote has, through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja (SAN), submitted a petition to the ICPC, calling for Ahmed’s arrest, investigation and prosecution. Let the law take its course without further delay!
Soft Landing?
The well-known lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba, Senior Partner at OAL Energy and Natural Resource Practice Group, wondered why Nigeria, with a $20 billion refinery, one of the world’s largest, would continue importing petroleum products. He finds it appalling that whereas a private investor has built the refining capacity that Nigeria desperately needs, he still faces systematic undermining from the very regulatory authority whose mandate is to support such investments.
There are already misgivings being expressed as to whether the quick disengagement of Farouk was a soft landing device. Was he pushed or did he jump? It wouldn’t matter either way, as long as the allegations made by Dangote are scrupulously investigated.
For so long, many of us have encountered our own version of ‘salaried oil sheiks’ on international airlines and marvelled at how some of them booked their entire families into business or first class cabins, while some of us, veteran breadwinners in our own right, wondered at the partiality of the deity that cracked their providential kernels.
We have got used to people living above their means. In fact, the society is so complacent that, in some quarters, anyone who refuses to take unfair advantage of his position in any government agency is considered a fool, accursed, or both.
Fighting corruption is a difficult and dangerous undertaking in Nigeria. We have already travelled an appreciable distance on the road to perdition. Imagine, several groups had started warming up to drum up public support for Farouk Ahmed before he was suddenly separated from his job.
In a fit of phenomenal illogic, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) says that Dangote’s allegations against the leadership of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), can deter potential foreign investors! Isn’t it preposterous that those who are ganging up against a local refinery claim to be doing so to encourage foreign investment?
And then they did the typically Nigerian thing: they passed a vote of confidence on Farouk Ahmed and his team. Chroniclers have taken journalistic note of who stood where when the bugle of patriotism sounded. Let Farouk Ahmed have his day in court.
Endemic Corruption
Corruption is a systemic problem in Nigeria, a country which has reportedly lost over $400 billion to cankerworm since its independence in 1960. The country has witnessed numerous high-profile corruption cases across various administrations since the return to democracy in 1999, reflecting the persistent challenge the country faces in combating this menace, despite the establishment of the EFCC and ICPC. A few high profile cases have been successfully prosecuted in the past. Many people remember the fall of another Farouk (Lawan) who was tripped by oily sleaze and subsequently jailed several years ago.
However, the cemetery of conveniently abandoned cases bears witness to our reluctance to conclusively pursue corruption cases to the end. What’s the outcome of the Halliburton Bribery Scandal (1990s-2000s); Pension Reform Task Team Fraud (Abdulrasheed Maina accused of embezzling over $5.6 million meant for pensioners; Arms Deal Scandal (Dasukigate); Petroleum Subsidy Fraud; and the Power Sector Privatisation suspected fraud?
What about the NDDC contract scams: Police Service Commission (PSC) scam involving over ₦150 million for election-related training; Excess Crude Account illegal withdrawals; missing NLNG dividends: stolen crude oil (2009-2012), NEITI case alleging that 60 million barrels of oil, valued at $13.7 billion, were stolen under the watch of the NNPC between 2009 and 2012; Chinese loan diversion involving the Ministry of Finance; ₦1.9 billion Ebola fight fund diversion; Babachir Lawal’s grass-cutting scandal, etc?
May Dangotequake beget other quakes, and may we find the courage to prosecute all of them conclusively!
Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021
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