Scandal!: N13b ‘salary’ paid in 2011 to workers of a dead Port Harcourt refinery.

ANOTHER scandal is rocking the Petroleum Resources Ministry even when the fuel subsidy scam is still under probe.

This time, it borders on the billions of naira the  ministry claimed to have spent on salaries of 1,032 workers at the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC), a refinery that has not been operational for more than five years.

Last year alone, it was claimed that N13.03 billion was spent as salaries for workers of the 'faulty' refinery. 
It was learnt yesterday that the Senate has directed its Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to investigate the alleged fraud, get the number of workers who were paid, what they were paid, who was 'shortchanged' and all the ghost workers, if any, in the system.

In fact, members of the Senate committee were stunned at the revelations.

A member said: “Although we can't really say something fishy is going on now but we need to know who got what in the salary payment. If for more than five years, the refinery has not worked, billions of naira paid every year for salaries and last year, more than N13 billion was paid to workers, it is clear that something is wrong with the system. The implication is that the workers were redundant for more than five years and they received salaries for redundancy. What type of a system is that?” 
The Area Manager of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Emmanuel Anam, who also confirmed this to members of the Senate Committee who visited some refineries as part of their oversight functions and in seeking for way out of the several problems confronting the oil industry, said: "We have been repairing the pipelines and in testing whether they are working, we pump water as test run and the pipelines were still vandalised."

During testing, he stated that NNPC trucks take 30 per cent of PMS loaded in Port Harcourt Refinery every day, while on Sundays, 25 of the 62 NNPC trucks load the product.

The committee chairman, Senator Magnus Abe, who was apparently not happy for the condition he met most of the refineries, said: "People now depend on technology. Pipelines are so critical to your business and I don't think you can rely on what the boys are saying and not saying about the pipelines.

"If the pipelines are not working, why are you paying money for pipeline security? Why not try electronic surveillance? Move products by trucks. 200 trucks of all petroleum products move daily to Warri, Aba, Akwa Ibom, and Calabar apart from servicing local demands, bridging with 120 trucks used for PMS alone”.

Not satisfied by the explanations of the PPMC Area Manager  and his management team, the committee demanded that records of the depot be forwarded to the National Assembly for scrutiny.

Meanwhile, to enhance the commercial and technical viability of the oil and gas industry, the Chairman of the newly-inaugurated Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has assured operators in the sector to play by the committee's rules or be sanctioned.

Ribadu said yesterday, in his acceptance speech on behalf of the committee, that the task force would work to ensure the promotion of values that support a new bound of business conduct in the sector.

He assured, at the inauguration of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in Abuja that the committee will bring succour to the industry.

The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said: "I want to bring value and balance to the nation and the life line sector of our economy which has been the basis of so much contention and so much grief. If you ask an average Nigerian of his assessment of the conduct of operations in the oil and gas sector, the moral terrain of the extractive industry has always been defined by the kind of value and the concept of resource lost.

"The task is that in the cause of re-inventing our country, we must reach the elevated moral standard of public conduct that brings value to our people. The truth is that Nigeria today is at a crossroad, and we want to connect the public and the present administration in a newer level of accountability and to understand the imperatives of constantly renewing the minds of the people of Nigeria by empowering them with values of responsibility and accountability so that governance can be seen as transparent."

Ribadu also said that the task force would help to design a national memorandum for promoting norms and fairness in the business which, according to him, "can only be a win-win scenario for Nigerians, foreign partners in the sector and the global oil and gas community. We shall work diligently to meet the expectations of Nigerians, we seek a new ethic by promoting values that support a new bound of business conduct in the sector, so that those who play by the rules will enjoy all the best support."

Speaking earlier, Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the task force, which has only 60 working days to work, is to further continue and strengthen the oil and gas industry and the on-going reforms “under the watch of  President Goodluck Jonathan”.

Members of the Task Force include Ribadu as chairman, Mr Stephen Oronsaye as vice chairman, Tony Idigbe, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Mallam Aba Kyare, Ms Benedicta Moloko, Mr Anthony George Ikoli, Mr Supo Sashore, Dr Omolara Akanji, Prof. Olusegun Okunu, Pastor Itua Ighodalo, Mr Bon Kunji, Mr Gerald Ilukoye, Mallam Sumaila Zubairu and Mr Ignatus Ade.

Ex-officials will include representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and a representative of the NNPC and DPR.