Wednesday, March 5, 2014

SCANDALOUS: Petroleum Ministry Can’t Account For N500m PIB Publicity Funds


When the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on Tuesday appeared before the Senate Committee on Gas for the defence of its 2014 budget, it was revealed that the agency misappropriated N500 million allocated for the promotion of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the 2013 budget without accounting for it.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was represented by Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Danladi Kifasi.

Kifasi, who was assigned to his post in August 2013, said he could not provide details about the expenditure because he was new in the ministry.

He said that the only records at his disposal showed that the N500 million was spent on radio and television jingles, newspaper advertisements and monitoring vehicles. But he could not give the breakdown of the expenditure.

Senator Bello Tukur, who raised the issue, questioned the involvement of the ministry in PIB campaign given that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the agency driving the bill.

Where did millions for gas infrastructure go?

Kifasi also admitted before the committee that there were budgetary allocations to the ministry for the development of gas infrastructure even when the ministry knew it lacked the capacity to execute such projects.

In 2013 budget, some $3.16bn was allocated to the ministry for gas infrastructure projects, out of which $1.7bn was released to it.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Nkechi Nwogu, asked Kifasi about the ministry's progress in the gas infrastructure development.


"Somebody should tell this committee what you did in the area of gas infrastructure development in 2013," she said.

Responding, Kifasi said that the ministry did "absolutely nothing" on gas infrastructure and development because the agency "does not have the technical capacity to go into the construction of gas pipelines."

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, reacted to Kifasi's reply asking why the ministry allowed such resources to be allocated to it every year when it knows that it lacks the capacity to execute such projects.

After the session the ministry's Director of Public Relations and Press, Kingsley Agha, said that the agency was not given the opportunity to provide details of the expenditure, adding that there were evidence that the money was spent on the billboards in strategic locations and for radio and television campaigns.

To recall, that Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Bill that originated in 2007 seeks to reform and overhaul Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in terms of operations, policies, structures, funding, and accountability as well as address the various debilities that currently plague the industry. The ongoing controversy around the bill has delayed its passage into law.



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