Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) has called on President Bola Tinubu to sanction all government officials involved in contract maneuvering.
The group also condemned the recent contracts awarded by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for oil and gas metering, saying the decision blatantly undermines Nigeria’s national interest and reeks of high-level corruption.
CASER in a statement issued Monday by its Director, Advocacy Center, Frank Tietie said Tinubu should call to order, all the relevant authorities, including the Minister of state for Petroleum, Hinenken Lokobiri, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 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.
It said they should rather liase with the Nigerian Shippers Council)m to implement the already existing contract.
The rights group recalled that it has 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.
It said this measure was crucial to ensure accurate revenues from exports and imports, particularly crude oil exports and petroleum imports.
The group added that it would also prevent the influx of illegal arms and weapons together with other contrabands, and so collate accurate trade statistics for vital National planning purposes.
It recalled that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had already 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.
Tietie added: “However, it is with profound disappointment that we have learned from the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobri, of the recent revelation that contracts for the engineering audit of upstream measurement equipment and facilities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Upstream has been awarded to a particular company, PE Energy Limited, for the sum of $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.
“Essentially, the above 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.
“And 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).”
The group said it was 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.
It noted that 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.
CASER stressed that the conclusion was easily reached due to the speed and lack of transparency in the processes that led to the recent announcement of the appointment of PE Energy Ltd and P-Lyne Energy Ltd to execute a part of an already awarded contract.
The rights group stressed that 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.
CASER said this 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.
Having said the above and despite the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, CASER has suspicions related to corruption and favoritism.
To get to the bottom of this, the group has resolved to immediately initiate a freedom of information (FOI) request in order to find out the following: The contract details and when it was advertised; Information about the companies that submitted bids; Details about the winning bidder, including the bidding process used and the reason for their selection; Evidence that this process went through all the required agencies for such a contract and the ultimate beneficiaries of the contract.
“Therefore, we urge the President to hold to account and sanction all those officials involved in this clear case of corrupt contract maneuvering and ensure that the proper thing is done immediately,” it said.