IN his first personal response to allegations that he breached the laws by approving projects outside the purview of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), President Olusegun Obasanjo has written to the Special Senate Committee, denying the allegation.
The Committee was set up to review the work of the Ad-Hoc Committee that investigated the Fund.
Obasanjo said that contrary to suggestions by the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, probe panel, all the projects he approved were within the law.
The President centered the argument of his over 10-page letter on the idea that whatever interpretation he gave to the PTDF Act, promulgated in 1973, was to make it amenable to the 21st Century without breaching the spirit and letter of the Act.
The Ndoma-Egba Committee had submitted that the President erred in approving projects like the African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST) and the Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI), among others, even though his intentions were noble and not for personal benefits.
The Committee asked the Senate to advise him against such future approvals made outside the intendments of the PTDF Act.
But many Senators argued that the Committee should have asked for a sanction against him, as it did against Vice President Atiku Abubakar whom the Committee found guilty of approving projects where he had personal interests.
The Guardian learnt that though the President was given the option of either appearing before the Committee or sending a written response to the areas of the Ad-Hoc Report that concerned him, he chose to write and his letter was received shortly after the Special Committee went on break last Friday.
Chairman of the Committee, Umaru Tsauri, on his way to the mosque last Friday, confirmed to The Guardian the receipt of the letter, just as Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa confirmed that she delivered it.
But none of them was willing to give details of the President’s comments in the letter.
It was, however, gathered that in the response, the President defended his actions and that of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which, he said, were within the ambit of the law setting up the PTDF.
Obasanjo noted that it would be absurd to seek a restrictive interpretation of the PTDF Act in the light of the technology available now, 28 years after the law came into being.
According to a source: “Specifically, the President raised a very vital issue when he said that three key words that guide the interpretation of the law are Petroleum, Technology, and Development, and asked a rhetorical question as to what constituted Petroleum Technology in 1973 and today.
“To him, these were the important matters for deep thinking in any attempt to know the intentions of the government that brought about the law for general use, not just for 1973 but for the age, time and technology driven period we dwell in.
“He (Obasanjo) observed that in 1973, when the law was promulgated, the word ‘internet’ did not exist while no one knew what optical fibres were.
“So, it would be wrong to suggest that the promulgators of the 1973 law did not expect future implementers to operate the law within the context of the technology available to them.”
The President was said to have stated categorically that “those who enacted the PTDF Act could not have foreseen the landmarks of the petroleum technology fields since the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution began in the mid 1980s.”
He talked about the technological inventions that now drive all fields of human endeavour and how the ICT contributes to economic and all other areas such that any government that ignores ICT would find itself lagging behind and shortchanging the citizenry.
It was said that Obasanjo argued that since ICT remained the “foundation of all knowledge, all business of competitive advantage… no government can compete in an increasingly integrative global economy without a robust, ubiquitous and accessible global infrastructure, tools and continuous training for its people.”
He noted that since ICT was everywhere and in every sector, it would amount to foolishness for any government not to pursue ICT infrastructure development such as the Galaxy Backbone project; and ensure that the staff in the petroleum sector as well those in other areas who deal with those in the oil and gas sector were trained or encouraged to have ICT facilities, as it did in the Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI).
Since local companies will provide the huge number of computers required under CANI, the President stated that it was all about local capacity building and utilisation, adding that an interpretation of the PTDF Section (2)(b) informed the approval given by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
On the African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST), the President traced the history of the venture to the activities of African scholars like Professors Wole Sobeyejo, Barth Nnaji and Bayo Akinrinade, who worked with African politicians like former Mozambican President, Joachim Chissano, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and technocrats like Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to promote the idea of establishing four world class universities of technology in the four regions of Africa.
With pressure from him (Obasanjo) and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, the first of such universities came to Nigeria instead of Tanzania, with backing from the World Bank, African Development Bank, the European Union and the British government.
These multi-lateral agencies and government, according to Obasanjo, are to provide subsidised funding, adding that the Federal Government showed its seriousness by getting $25 million approved for the project from the PTDF; and providing, among others, 240 hectares of land in the Abuja Technology Village.
The President pointed out that the AIST would have a Gulf of Guinea Institute, which will be the AIST’s premier oil and gas faculty.
“Actually, according to him, this Faculty is the reason he approached the PTDF, since it was within its mandate to support training in petroleum technology,” the source said.
“In fact, the President said because of the country’s position as one of the largest producers of oil, the Institute will serve the country’s purpose and help provide an alternative to foreign training of persons in the private and public sector, in line with Section 2(b) of the PTDF Act.
Section 2 of the PTDF Act, which formed the crux of the President’s defence of his actions on the CANI and African Institute of Science and Technology, reads:
“The Fund shall be available for the purpose of training Nigerians to qualify as graduates, professionals, technicians and craftsmen, in the fields of engineering, geology, science and management in the petroleum industry in Nigeria or abroad, and in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Fund shall be utilised as follows:
a. to provide scholarships and bursaries, wholly or partially in universities, colleges, institutions, and in petroleum undertakings in Nigeria or abroad;
b. to maintain, supplement, or subsidise such training or education mentioned above;
c. to make suitable endowments to faculties in Nigerian universities, colleges, or institutions approved by the Minister;
d. to make available suitable books and training equipment in the institutions aforesaid;
e. for sponsoring regular or as necessary visits to oilfields, refineries, petrochemical plants, and for arranging any necessary attachments of personnel to establishments connected with the development of the petroleum industry; and
f. for financing of and participation in seminars and conferences, which are connected with the petroleum industry in Nigeria or abroad.
Obasanjo also defended himself against the approval he gave for the N250 million paid to Emmanuel Chambers of Chief Afe Babalola. He argued that the bill was brought to him and endorsed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, adding that he even slashed it by N50 million, from its original N300 million.
But rather than defend himself copiously on the amount he made available to DICON, Kaduna, the President was said to have attached documents from the company that exonerated him from the accusations made against him, advising the Senate Special Committee to visit DICON to see things for itself.