OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI FROM PANDEF
OPEN LETTER TO
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI FROM PANDEF
President and Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of
Nigeria
Dear Mr. President,
RE: ADDRESSING THE CONTINUED INJUSTICE AGAINST THE NIGER
DELTA PEOPLE VIZ. THE LOPSIDED APPOINTMENTS IN THE NNPC AND ITS
SUBSIDIARIES/DEPARTMENTS
Firstly, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to you on
the passing of Mallam Abba Kyari, your late Chief of Staff. We supplicate the
Almighty for the repose of his soul, and the souls of all our country men and
women who have died as result of the corona virus pandemic. We commiserate with
the families and loved ones of the deceased, while we wish all who are
currently undergoing treatment speedy recovery. It is our hope that government
and all citizens would take even greater responsibility to stem the spread of
the virus in the country, and soonest, make Nigeria COVID-19 free, by the grace
of Almighty God.
Your Excellency, it is for the COVID-19 situation, and
particularly, the unfortunate demise of Mallam Abba Kyari that we had
restrained ourselves from writing this letter to you before now. But we are
compelled do so at this time, and aware of the constraints and strict protocols
that we may encounter if established procedures were to be engaged, we elected
this medium.
Mr. President, the leadership of Pan Niger Delta Forum,
PANDEF, has in the last two months, again been inundated with complaints over
the continued seemingly deliberate and calculated sidelining of indigenes of
the Niger Delta region in appointments and redeployments in the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its subsidiaries. These objections
have amplified following the recent promotions and reorganization in the
Corporation, made in March 2020 that further isolated the Niger Delta people
from the mainstream management structure of the NNPC.
Your Excellency, we recall that an avalanche of
condemnations from the Niger Delta/South-South greeted the vexatious
composition of the NNPC BOARD that you constituted in 2016, where out of the 9
members of the Board only one person was from the South-South in the person of
Dr. Thomas M. A. John from Cross River State, apart from the Minister of State,
Petroleum, and one person from the South-West. The rest were all from the
Northern zones of the country; with three persons from the North East zone,
including the then Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru from Bauchi state and
of course, Mr. President’s late Chief of Staff, who was a member of the Board
until his demise, three persons from the North West zone, and one person from
the North Central zone. The South-East zone, an oil producing zone, had no
representation in the NNPC Board.
The lopsided NNPC Management later effected a
re-organization in September 2017 that left the Region more estranged. PANDEF put up Advertorials and Press Statements in national
Newspapers against the marginalization of the region, at the time. Further to
that, the National Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum and Distinguished Elder
Statesman, Chief Dr. Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, CON, OFR, held Press Conferences and
urged Mr. President to re-visit the provocative appointments and promotions in
the NNPC and its subsidiaries, in the interest of peace, equity and justice.
Other patriotic and eminent Nigerians also spoke against the illiberality and
imbalances in the Corporation.
Nothing was done by Mr. President. Your administration
played dumb to the protestations and genuine concerns raised by well-meaning
Nigerians from within and outside the Niger Delta region.
Your Excellency, we had thought the prejudicial actions
would end with your first term, and that there would be broader approach to the
conduct of State affairs in your second term. Sadly, it is not so; the trend
has continued, like a canon whose end leads back to the beginning.
Today, under Mr. President’s watch, the paradoxical and
dismal reality is that in the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, through which the federal government regulates and
participates in the country's petroleum industry that operates in our
backyards, virtually all top MANAGEMENT POSITIONS OF THE CORPORATION and its
subsidiaries, Departments, and Ventures, are held by persons from the Northern
zones of the country that do not produce an ounce of Oil, to the exclusion of
indigenes of oil producing Communities of Niger Delta region.
KEY MANAMEGENT POSITIONS HELD BY NORTHERNERS IN NNPC
1. Mele Kolo Kyari - Group Managing Director, GMD
2. Umar Isa Ajiya - Chief Finance Officer, Finance & Account
3. Yusuf Usman - Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power
4. Farouk Garba
Sa'id -
Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services
5. Mustapha Y.
Yakubu - Chief Operating Officer, Refining and
Petrochemicals
6. Hadiza Y.
Coomassie - Corporate Secretary/Legal Adviser to the
Corporation
7. Omar Farouk
Ibrahim - GGM, International Energy Relations, IER
8. Kallamu Abdullahi -
GGM, Renewable Energy
9. Ibrahim Birma - GGM, Governance Risk and Compliance
10. Bala Wunti - GGM, NAPIMS
11. Inuwa Waya - MD, NNPC Shipping
12. Musa Lawan - MD, Pipelines & Product Marketing, PPMC
13. Mansur Sambo - MD, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company,
NPDC
14. Lawal Sade - MD, Duke Oil/NNPC Trading Company
15. Malami Shehu - MD, Port Harcourt Refining Company
16. Muhammed Abah - MD, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company
17. Abdulkadir Ahmed - MD, Nigeria Gas Marketing Company
18. Salihu Jamari - MD, Nigeria Gas and Power Investment Company
Limited
19. Mohammed Zango - MD, NNPC Medical Services
20. Sarki Auwalu - Director, Department of Petroleum Resources,
DPR
The Oil Producing zones of South-South, South East and South
West are left with one Chief Operating Officer Position each, and a few senior
and middle level management positions in peripheral and incidental
subsidiaries, departments and divisions of the Corporation.
The NNPC Board subsists as was constituted in 2016 without
changes, apart from the Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, and
Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari from Borno state, who replaced Maikanti Bari as Group
Managing Director in July 2019. AND MR. PRESIDENT REMAINS THE PETROLEUM
MINISTER.
The management pattern in NNPC is replicated in all other
Oil Related Agencies such as Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), Petroleum
Equalization Fund, and etcetera.
Employment into the NNPC and other related Agencies is not
anything different. While young graduates of the Niger Delta region with
degrees in petroleum engineering and allied fields remain jobless, Northerners
with degrees in history are working as managers in the NNPC.
Ironically, the South South zone produces about 95% of the
Nigeria’s crude oil Resources, which account for over 90% of the nation’s
foreign exchange earnings. The effects of oil exploration on the hitherto
luxurious ecosystem of the Niger Delta, and damage done to the indigenous
people’s means of livelihood with little, if any, improvement in their standard
of living, are sad verities that make the situation in the NNPC more vexing.
Nigeria’s Crude Oil production figures by State
1. Akwa Ibom 504,000 bpd - 31.4%
2. Delta 346,000 bpd - 21.56%
3. Rivers 344,000 bpd - 21.43%
4. Bayelsa 290,000 bpd - 18.07%
5. Edo 33,000 bpd
- 2.06%
6. Ondo
60,000 bpd
- 3.74%
7. Imo 17,000 bpd - 1.06%
8. Abia 11,000 bpd - 0.68%
OIL PRODUCTION IN THE NORTHERN ZONES = 0%
Chapter 2, Section 14 (3) of the Nation’s Constitution,
which Mr. President swore on oath to uphold and defend, provides that "the
composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the
conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the
federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also
to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no
predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other
sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies."
Mr. President, can the NNPC management configuration promote
national unity or national loyalty? Doesn’t it go against the spirit and
letters of the Constitution?
Regrettably, the uncouth discriminative bias against the
Niger Delta region is even being perpetuated in the current efforts to stem the
spread of COVID-19 in the country, and in the dispensation of palliatives to
vulnerable citizens by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal
government.
Concerning the $311 million US Dollars Abacha loot recently
returned from the United States, which your administration said has been
allocated to projects; including the second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan and
Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways, as well as the Mambilla Power Project in North
East zone; no project in the South South zone is listed.
These situations further bolster the Niger Delta peoples’
demand for not only adequate participation in the management, administration,
and dispensation of the resources nature has richly endowed our lands but also
for the RESTRUCTURING of the country. And we will not stop; confident that
someday the sun will shine on us.
Mr. President need not be apprised that the People of the
Niger Delta region have nothing against any part of the country. But this gross
injustice against the people who bear the brunt of the oil exploration and
exploitation activities in their land must stop. The region has been a “good friend” to all
parts of the country, particular to Northern Nigeria. More so, the Region has
demonstrated tremendous patriotism and goodwill towards your Administration.
Unfortunately, instead of appropriately reciprocating the gesture of the Niger
Delta people by addressing the genuine demands of the Region as encapsulated in
the 16-Point Demand that was presented by PANDEF to Mr. President on 1st
November 2016, what we see is further alienation and distancing by the Federal
Government and its agencies.
Your Excellency, the purpose of this letter, therefore, is
to again highlight these gross disproportions to you, with the imploration that
Mr. President should, in the interest of fairness, equity, PEACE and POSTERITY,
correct the anomalies and give all Regions and Zones of the Country due sense
of belonging; especially the Niger Delta region. It is imperative that every
effort should be employed to ensure that the subsisting peace in the Niger
Delta region is sustained, in the context of the COVID-19 impact on the global
economy and falling crude oil price.
Lastly, may we decorously request Mr. President to note that
there is a burden on you to urgently address these palpable defects of your
administration, and bequeath a worthwhile legacy; such that in the years to
come, when citizens reminisce on the tenure of your presidency, the
contemplations would not be distorted by unnerving shadows of nepotism, bias
and injustice.
We note that Mr. President recently forwarded a list of
nominees for the Federal Character Commission to the Senate for confirmation;
with two nominees from the Northern zones of the country designated for
Chairman and Secretary of the Commission. These actions undermine national
cohesion and unity. We cannot continue to run Nigeria in such manner.
Luckily, Mr. President has sufficient time, of about three
years, to alter the chronicle and theme it in the direction of equity and
social justice. May the Creator of heaven and earth guide you to do the required.
Thank you, Mr. President, and kindly accept the assurances
of our highest esteem.
Happy Ramadan!
Sincerely,
Hon. Ken Robinson
National Publicity Secretary
Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF
09058444601
CC:
1. Senator Ahmed Lawan, Senate President
2. Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of
Representatives
3. Senator Ovie
Omo-Agege, Deputy Senate President
4. Chairmen,
Senate Committees on Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
5. Chairmen, House
Committees on Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
6. HE, Udom
Emmanuel, Governor of Akwa Ibom State
7. HE, Senator
Douye Diri, Governor of Bayelsa State
8. HE, Prof. Ben
Ayade, Governor of Cross River State
9. HE, Senator Dr.
Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State
10. HE, Godwin
Obaseki, Governor of Edo State
11. HE, Chief Barr.
Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State
12. HE, Dr, Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan
13. HE, Chief Dr.
Olusegun Obasanjo
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