- This matter ab initio, borders on economic sabotage against Nigeria and must be viewed in that light
It will surely rank among the most hefty and scandalous heists to have been perpetrated in Nigeria’s opaque and indescribably complex oil industry. We refer to the infamous Malabu oil deal allegedly involving illicit sharing of humongous amounts of funds belonging to Nigeria among a tight ring of highly placed Nigerian officials and collaborating operatives of two major multinational players in the Nigerian oil industry, namely Eni and Shell.
A report presented in Lagos last week by a consulting firm, Resources for Development Consulting, brought the Malabu issue to the forefront of public consciousness once again and revealed just how sordid the entire affair was with the country being allegedly ripped off to the tune of $6 billion.
Expatiating on the report, the head of the consulting group, Dr. Don Hubert, explained that the deal entered into in 2011 with the two oil giants awarded a highly flawed deep water block Oil Prospecting License to the two companies on terms grossly detrimental to the fiscal interest of Nigeria. According to the consultants, contrary to the fiscal terms, which were part of earlier contractual agreements with the oil companies in 2003 and 2005, Shell and Eni were curiously excluded from paying royalty and Profit Oil on OPL 245. Incidentally, the oil block in question is estimated to have about nine billion barrels of crude oil estimated at about half a trillion Naira.
In Dr Hubert’s words, “The payment of $1.1 billion in 2011 was not only a payment to secure rights to OPL 245, the payment terms also served fiscal terms that were highly detrimental to the government of Nigeria. The lack of profit oil in the current fiscal terms that in governing OPL 245 analysis shows, will result in a loss to the Nigerian people of at least $4.5 billion”. Buttressing this point, Olanrewaju Suraj, Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agency (HEDA), an NGO that was also involved in the inquiry, said “The multinationals included clauses depriving the Nigerian State of its rightful share of oil production…It is estimated that with oil prices in the range of $70 per barrel, potential revenues that were negotiated away could amount to $5.86 billion”.
This report can certainly not be dismissed with a wave of the hand particularly because a number of former and current Shell and Eni executives are currently reported to be on trial in Milan, Italy, over the issue. Furthermore a Nigerian, Emeka Obi and an Italian, Gianluca Di Nardo were found guilty of corruption in Italy and a sum of 96.3 million pounds seized from them for their roles as middlemen in the deal.
A former Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Mr Dan Etete, alleged to have benefitted from the deal was convicted in France for money laundering and using illicit funds to buy property abroad. On his part, former Attorney General of the country, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, was freed of complicity on the matter by an Abuja court on July 14 on the grounds that he only executed the directives of former President Goodluck Jonathan. It is therefore obvious that there were indeed underground dealings in the OPL 245 license award that deprived the country of substantial revenue and thus grievously harmed the national interest.
We commend the Non Governmental Agencies (NGOs), Global Witness, Human and Environmental Agency Development Agency (HEDA) as well RE: Common and The Corner House that commissioned the investigation. It is incumbent on the Nigerian government to follow this example by acting decisively to get to the root of the matter, recover any stolen funds accruing to Nigeria, make the perpetrators of the alleged crime to face justice and bring this matter that has drawn for too long to closure.
