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Lokpobiri before appointing minister of state as co-chairman, creating further anxiety in a board that is already mired in altercations.
For a government that is anchoring its programmes on a renewed hope agenda theme, it is disturbing that Lokpobiri is working at cross purpose with Tinubu’s agenda because his unguarded statements are capable of destabilising further the sector that harbours the nation’s cash cow because of personal animosity and political ambition between two sons of Bayelsa State. For instance, Wabote and Lokpobiri are from the same state of Bayelsa, and the latter allegedly fears that the former’s sterling performance as the executive secretary of NCDMB may pose a stumbling block to him in his aspiration to govern the Bayelsa people. This may explain his spirited effort to erase the former executive secretary’s sterling record or at least tarnish it so much that if Wabote should at any point be considered for the highest office in Bayelsa State, he will not have a record to stand on. But will this acrimonious tactic succeed?
There is doubt because of the blitzkrieg Wabote unleashed to defend the integrity of the NCDMB under his leadership. His statement entitled: “False Narratives by the Hon. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources – Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri at the Petroleum Club, Lagos, “dismissed in Toto the minister’s allegations as “reckless and bundle of lies unbecoming of a minister of State of the Federal Republic”.
According to the former executive secretary, the minister’s reckless statements in the past months are not new to him as Lokpobiri “only recently tried to throw NNPCL under the bus as he stated that Nigeria is losing 400kb of oil because of not signing the Seplat deal thus trying to indict NNPLC a parastatal under his supervision.” This prompted him to ask whether Lokpobiri as a representative of the substantive minister is not supposed to canvass government position or represent his principal correctly instead of acting like a militant activist.
Wabote recalled that his problem as executive secretary started with Lokpobiri in December 2023, when he sent one of his undocumented aides within his ministry to his office in Yenagoa, requesting him to increase the NCDMB budget by N30 billion for the office of the Minister. “ I said it had never been done before. I served two ministers and none of them have ever made such a request to NCDMB, that we only make provision for the office of the chairman of the council which covers his travel expenses.
“I said to him that the maximum NCDMB budget has ever gotten to in the past is circa N80 billion for all our activities, adding that N30 billion will be too much for his office and I was not going to do it. I ask stakeholders to review the NCDMB budget from 2016 to 2023 and also look at what got approved in 2024,” Wabote said. Realnews reports that the budget in 2016 was 21,958,904,000; in 2017 was 30,999459,424; in 2018 NCDMB budgeted 49,358,975,255.67; in 2019 was 59,742,546,552.13; 2020 was N57,368,275.11; N56,062,661.18 in 2021; N62,132,914,277.06 in 2022; N85,812,855,292.93 in 2023 and N138,789,647,551.52 in 2024.
Realnews reports that in August 2023, Wabote led the management of NCDMB to provide a full briefing of the Board’s activities to Lokpobiri (Minister of State for Petroleum Resources-Oil), and Ekperikpe Ekpo minister of State for Petroleum – Gas. The presentation, in more than 250-page slides provided information on the status of the board’s projects, partnerships, intervention funds, TSA account balances, HCD programmes, forensic audits, and other strategic initiatives under the NCDMB 10-year Strategic Roadmap. The presentation was followed up with an invitation to the ministers of state familiarisation visits to the board’s headquarters and other project sites located across the country.
The sites visited between September and November 2023 included – Nigerian Content Tower – the Board’s headquarters in Yenagoa, NCDMB Fire Station in NCT; 204-room NCDMB Conference Hotel under construction; NCDMB Creche; NCDMB NOGAPS Industrial Park, Emeyal-1, near Otueke, Bayelsa State; Waltersmith Refinery, Ibigwe, Imo State; and NCDMB interventions within the PTDF Skills Center in Omagwa, PHC. “Familiarisation visits to other sites were lined up before my unceremonious removal from office right after our flagship event, Practical Nigerian Content, PNC, Forum in December 2023,” the statement said.
The statement wondered why the minister did not use the brief he was given to understand the necessary facts and figures instead of broadcasting mischief to industry stakeholders.
“We had told Mr. Lokpobiri that our projects, interventions, and partnerships were driven by the enabling provisions contained in the NOGICD Act and extant government policies on modular refineries, Decade of Gas, jobs creation, and poverty eradication. It is therefore shocking that the HMSPR-Oil chose to present false narratives before the Petroleum Club in his foray into character assassination, treachery, and waste agenda.
“It is FALSE for the HMSPR-Oil to assert that 90% of the NC Intervention Fund managed by BOI is not performing. He was fully briefed that it is because NCDMB is not a bank that made us partner with BOI as a foremost development bank in the country to manage the intervention fund for the oil and gas industry with each loan secured by Bank guarantee.
“As of Dec 2023, it is on record that the NC intervention funds managed by BOI helped cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the industry and that the fund has yielded millions from the low-interest rates with the principal fully secured with BG. The fund was intact when I left office as can be verified from BOI. If the fund is now being declared as wasted by the HMSPR-Oil, he should be asked what he has done or intends to do with the fund to make such a declaration. Industry watchers must not allow the secured funds to be diverted under any pretext.
“Our presentation and briefing notes to the HMSPR-Oil on Brass Fertiliser clearly informed him that the partnership arrangement with NNPC and DSV Engineering is for the establishment of a 10,000TPD Methanol plant. It is therefore FALSE that the partnership was for fertilizer factory,” the statement said.
Perhaps, the statement enjoined Lokpobiri to check with Ekpo and the NNPCL for details of the project and the latest developments rather than the false accusations to castigate the NCDMB.
For the records, the statement stated that the initial investments by NNPC and NCDMB are pre-FID equity injection for the estimated $3.2 billion project. The Board’s additional investment is tied to the achievement of financial close, which has not been achieved by the project promoters.
The status of the 15 Board’s five partnerships are Waltersmith refinery, which is already inaugurated and operational; five ready for inauguration (Nedo, BetterGas, Bunorr, Butane (Kaduna), and Duport); four under construction (Azikel, Triansel, Eraskon, and LadolPower); four in search of debt financing (Brass Fertiliser (Methanol), Rungas Prime, Rungas Alfa, and SPL Utorogu); and one under divestment considerations (Atlantic Refinery).
The statement implored Lokpobiri to visit the construction sites to avail himself of facts on the ground. “He should also check the MPR archives of the strategic plan to diversify oil and gas development clusters in the Niger Delta using Bonny Island, Brass Island, Onne, Ogidigben, Ibom, etc. Perhaps, this will cure his aversion to any developmental initiative in Brass Island and the Niger Delta in general,” the statement said.
Apart from the minister of State (Oil)’s “undiplomatic language as a cabinet member implying that China is an undemocratic nation that sends its citizens to jail without a fair hearing, it is important to draw the attention of the HMSPRO to the international dimension of his false statements on the image of Nigeria. His self-serving outburst in the face of verifiable facts is a dent on the enviable heights attained by Nigeria in local content practice as attested to by several countries within the continent and beyond,” it said.
The statement advised Lokpobiri “to learn to separate the requirements of the office he currently occupies from his political ambition. He should look for another individual and agency of government to demonise in his quest to remain relevant. I am also aware that he is fighting a proxy war with his one-time principal (former MSPR) and only using me as a decor.”
According to the statement, Lokpobiri “should channel his energy to position himself as the Guest of Honour and allow the Board to commission the following partnership projects as part of the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu: Nedo Gas Processing Plant complete with 300MMscf gas gathering hub in Kwale, Delta State; Better Gas 500MT LPG Storage and distribution infrastructure at Dikko near Abuja; 48,000Liter per day Bunnor Base Oil Production at Omagwa, PHC; Butane LPG Plant Kaduna (2nd plant after the Katsina Plant commissioned in December 2021) and Duport Modular Refinery, Egbokor (Legal squabbles permitting). It added that another set of projects would be due for inauguration by the second anniversary of Mr. President if the minister of oil will allow the Board to function without all the lethargy of woes he has brought to NCDMB since December 2023.
Above notwithstanding, NCDMB under Wabote created the NOGaPS $50 million Manufacturing Fund domiciled under the Bank of Industry to attract oil and gas equipment manufacturers to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, NOGaPS, facilities established by the NCDMB, and increase access to affordable finance by the manufacturing entities.
The Fund has served as a model for local content practice across the African continent and inspired the creation of the African Energy Bank by the African Petroleum Producers Organization, APPO, in partnership with the African Export Bank, Afreximbank.
Realnews reports that countries like Angola and Namibia had engaged the NCDMB to understand the workings of the NCI Fund to replicate the same in their jurisdictions. The NCDMB under Wabote made wise investments.
“We are only operating with what we have hoping that production will increase when we are not investing in offshore. Take 1% of 6 billion dollars that is about 6 million dollars, out of the 6 million, about 30% of the people don’t want to pay until we go after them with forensic auditors. So what we get in a year is 4 million dollars. And the 4 million dollars is not paid at once. It is paid on an invoice basis even though the law says you pay that money as soon as you sign contracts. But those of us in the industry know that it is not practicable so you look at the total funds that come to the NCDMB, it is nothing, but with it, we can implement all our projects today, and we can carry out all our activities. We pride ourselves today that we have not taken any loan from any bank and we can set up funds to support local businesses. We make bold to say that the NCIF to the Bank of Industry is one of the most successful loan schemes in this country because we have almost 99% payback,” Wabote had explained before he was removed from office last year.
Realnews reports that the NCDMB has been at the forefront in pushing for a 100% Nigerian content agenda, especially in the oil and gas sector, and has continued to achieve great feats by investing in business opportunities that will bring in huge returns. However, what worries industry watchers is that if the current unguarded statements from the leadership of the ministry persist, the waning confidence in the sector will diminish totally and this will be a bad omen that will entrench declining investment in the sector.