The Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER) has described the recent contracts awarded by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for oil and gas metering as reeking in corruption.
The rights group strongly advocated for the implementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note (Advance Cargo Declaration) and have in the past, had course to pursue legal action which stalled an earlier attempted breach of the Public Procurement Act.
This measure, it said is crucial to ensure accurate revenues from exports and imports, particularly crude oil exports and petroleum imports, prevent the influx of illegal arms and weapons together with other contrabands, and collate accurate trade statistics for vital National planning purposes.
Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration awarded the contract to a consortium led by Antasser Nigeria Ltd, a global leader in cargo monitoring for ensuring national security and accuracy of revenue remittances to governments across the world.
CASER expressed dismay when the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, announced that contracts for the engineering audit of upstream measurement equipment and facilities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Upstream had been awarded to PE Energy Limited.
The contract value was put at $21 million (US Dollars), while another contract for the procurement of pre-field development studies for advanced declaration solution Technology (international Cargo Tracking Note) for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Upstream Sector was awarded to P-Lyne Energy Limited for an amount yet to be disclosed.
The group noted that the two recent contracts form part of services to be rendered free of charge to the federal government in a different contract which has already been awarded to a consortium led by Antasser Nigeria Ltd.
It stated that the services to be provided by these recent awards are a clear duplication of services that are actually meant to be at a total zero cost to the Federal Government of Nigeria under the implementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN).
“It is important to question why the Nigerian Shippers Council and the minister of Marine and Blue Economy have not activated the existing contract with the Antasser-led consortium, instead they have allowed for a duplication of the same contract by another agency of the same government.
“This duplication seems to either be motivated by corruption and the self-enrichment of certain individuals in positions of power or the refusal of a cabal benefiting from the status quo.” it argued.
The group raised concerns about the speed at which conclusion with regard to the contract was reached which is raising suspicion of lack of transparency in the entire process that led to the appointment of PE Energy Ltd and P-Lyne Energy Ltd to execute a part of an already awarded contract.
These processes defy all public procurement standards, raising more questions than answers at a critical time when our nation is battling with serious economic and security issues, says CASER.
This also highlights another important reason why the current operations of the Nigerian oil and gas sector need to be carefully scrutinised and completely overhauled, especially in light of the recent crisis involving the NNPC, Mid and Downstream regulatory commission, and the Dangote Refinery.
In the spirit of transparency and justice for the Nigerian people, CASER is calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call to order, all the relevant authorities, including the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri and the chief executive of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, to immediately stop the unnecessary and unjust duplication of award of the oil and gas metering and cargo monitoring contract to PE Energy Ltd and P-Lyne Energy Ltd, and instead liaise with its fellow government agency (The Nigerian Shippers Council) to implement the already existing contract.
The group has also decided to initiate a freedom of information (FOI) request in order to find out the contract details and when it was advertised, the companies that submitted bids and details about the winning bidder, including the bidding process used and the reason for their selection.
They want to also find out if the process went through all the required agencies for such a contract and ultimate beneficiaries of the contract.
The CASER said it is committed to its mandate of ensuring that the Nigerian government’s institutions and agents work in the interest of the Nigerian people’s well-being and welfare through judicious resource use, compliance with legal standards, eradication of manifest forms of abuse of public office for self-service, and reduction of public sector corruption.
The group also urged the President to hold to account and sanction all those officials involved in this clear case of corrupt contract manoeuvring and ensure that the proper thing is done immediately.
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