THAT money was paid is no longer in contention. But the purpose for which it was paid and to whom are now the subject of debate.
While NNPC has admitted that money was paid but only to secure a pipeline and actually paid to a local registered company, the foremost militant group in the Niger Delta, MEND, has argued that the money was paid to unscrupulous elements pretending to be agitators while part of it was shared by government officials.
Indeed, according to MEND, what the NNPC paid was more than the reported N1.4 billion.
Meanwhile, political parties, rights groups and militias yesterday reacted to the statements credited to the NNPC Group Managing Director, Alhaji Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua. They demanded to know the authority that allowed the NNPC to spend such huge amount of money for a job the security operatives could cheaply carry out.
But the NNPC has denied spending the money on the militants. The corporation’s management said that it was paid for the policing of oil facilities, adding that the contract was awarded to a grassroots company after negotiation with the host community.
Yar’Adua had said on Tuesday that the NNPC paid the money to militants to secure access to a damaged oil facility in Delta State.
The dominant militia group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said the money was paid to armed gangs in Delta State by the NNPC as “protection fee.”
It said no genuine militant group fighting for resource control in the Niger Delta was involved in the deal.
The Chairman of Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Mr. Maxi Okwu, yesterday described the NNPC’s action as a wrongful channelling of public funds.
Okwu told The Guardian that the money could go for infrastructure development, which he said, were most needed by the Niger Delta people, stressing that the common people of the region would not benefit from the money the corporation allegedly paid to the militants.
Also, the National Organising Secretary of the Action Congress (AC), Goodie Ikechi, said that the government should detach the criminal aspect of militancy in the region from the common developmental struggle of the people. He said that there were so much criminal interests in the crisis by people who might not be indigenes of the Niger Delta.
Before the House of Representatives panel probing government’s revenue and remittance to the Federation Account in Abuja on Tuesday, Yar’Adua, said: “The price we pay is very high. It is difficult to get expatriates to work in the Niger Delta. We paid militants $12 million in two months because we were losing $81 million to the problem of the Chanomi pipeline in Delta State.”
In its reaction, MEND said that the NNPC was being economical with the truth. It alleged that the actual amount the corporation paid to some fronts, who operate as criminal gangs, was N2.9 billion ($25 million) for protection of crude oil pipelines in Delta State.
But the NNPC Group General Manager (Public Affairs), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, said yesterday that his boss was quoted out of context. He noted that both the statements credited to Yar’Adua and the response of MEND to the same, emphatically refuted the allegation that NNPC paid money to MEND or any militant group in the Niger Delta.
Ajuonuma said that when the Chanomi creek pipeline was vandalised, no company could access the point to carry out repairs as the community did not give access to the contractors.
He said this ugly situation was responsible for the non-operation of Kaduna Refinery between February 2006 and early 2008, stressing that all efforts by the past management of NNPC to put the pipeline in operation never achieved any success as nobody was allowed into the area.
Ajuonuma said when Yar’Adua assumed office, he engaged the communities and asked them to come up with a plans that would get the pipeline repaired.
Responding to NNPC challenge, Ajuonuma said, the communities came up with a proposal, which had a far less financial implication than what all the major oil service companies offered, which made the NNPC to award the contract to a community-based company, which name he did not mention.
“That was the context upon which NNPC awarded the contract to them. At no time did we have anything to do with the militants,” he said.
He said that MEND or any militant groups do not operate as a company neither do they repair pipelines, “so NNPC could not have given money to them,” adding that in February this year when Warri Refinery was being re-commissioned by the GMD, this background was clearly stated at the event.
Ajuonuma further said that after the repair of the pipeline, the community was engaged to protect the pipeline and ensure constant surveillance of the facilities and this was done in line with NNPC’s belief in community policing.
“We did not pay MEND or any militant group; all we did was to award the pipeline repair contract to a community-based company and some community group who assured us that they can protect the lines were also engaged by the corporation,” he said.
Yar’Adua had said that the incident occurred recently. But Ajuonuma was silent on the time of the transaction. Just like Yar’Adua, he did not name the company and the community involved in the deal.
Ajuonuma’s defence also raised questions about the presence of the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) sent to the area to protect oil facilities. When NNPC was denied access to the area, did the corporation request the services of the JTF?
MEND, however, seems to have an answer to the puzzle. Its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, said yesterday that the group was aware that huge payments had been made to some criminal gangs in Delta State as “protection fee.”
“From our knowledge, the NNPC disbursed over $25 million (N2 billion) for the scam, which was shared by the top commanders of the military Joint Task Force, senior government officials in Delta State Governor’s Office, top management staff in the NNPC.”
According to him, this group that was paid “the amount is not involved in the genuine part of the Niger Delta agitation for justice but a front for government officials for such extortion.” He argued that those who were paid by the NNPC could not be correctly labelled as militants or freedom-fighters.
He said: “MEND will never sell its birthright for a bowl of porridge when the impoverished masses in the region continue to live in abject poverty. It is for refusing such bribes that Henry Okah is still being held captive today.
“To proof that we are not a part of this deal, the Chanomi creek pipelines and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days,” Gbomo then vowed.
But Okwu said that for the fact that militancy, hostage-taking and kidnapping had continued unabated in the region over the two months for which the money was reportedly paid to the militants and that the NNPC was silent on who represented the militants or the militia body that was involved in the negotiation meant that such placation was not the rightful demand of the people.
On his part, Ikechi advised the Federal Government to involve the common people in the region in the proposed peace talks, stating that they were capable of revealing and distinguishing the crime- instigated aspect of the crisis from the collective struggle of the region.
Both Okwu and Ikechi agreed that infrastructural development is the core demand of the region.
Interestingly, NNPC denied in another statement that came late last night and signed by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Levi Ajuonuma on behalf of its Group Managing Director, Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, that the Corporation has been spending about $6 million monthly on militants.
Dr. Ajuonuma, who was reacting to reports published by The Guardian yesterday, that NNPC paid the sum of N1.4 billion to the Niger Delta militant groups to enable its officials gain access to the site of the damaged Chanomi oil pipeline in Delta State to effect repairs, said at no time was such payment made.
“The NNPC categorically refutes the allegations credited to our Group Managing Director to the effect that it paid money to militant groups to gain access to the site of the damaged pipeline at Chanomi creek. We wish to state that the GMD, who has always demonstrated his avowed commitment to community empowerment, was quoted out of context.
“At no time did the Corporation pay any money to either members of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) or any other militant group for that matter,” he said.
The Guardian’s story, a true account of the NNPC’s chief executive testimony before the House of Representatives never said the money was made to MEND.
Ajuonuma said: “It was in the light of the frustrating experience that the Corporation decided to engage one of the community-based companies recommended by the community from amongst those that tendered their bids for the contract for the pipeline repairs, in addition to the pipeline surveillance/protection, as a way of empowering the immediate communities bordering the facility”. The company’s name was not however given.
The decision to engage the community-based contractor, Ajuonuma explained, was not only in line with the Corporation’s sympathy with communities around the pipeline routes, but because the contract sum was comparatively reasonable and lower than what was demanded by the expatriate firms for the same job.
“At no time did the NNPC have anything to do with any militant group to repair the pipeline, knowing that no militant group has the technical competence to carry out such jobs.”