While Nigerians are still grappling with the shameful revelations coming from the House of Reps probe into the fuel subsidy scandal and the sad commentary of corruption that followed, Olufamous.com gathered that the Presidency was busy "prosecuting secret oil block deals."
An independent investigation by Daily Trust showed that a company owned by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo is among the beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s recent secret allocations of prize oil blocs.
Findings reveal that All Grace Energy, in which Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has majority stake, got the oil block -Ubima Creek field OML 17 - in a discretional process without competitive bidding.
Experts and credible sources in the oil industry said the secret allocations are against known international best practices. While the federal government had been telling Nigerians that the process of awarding oil licences will be executed publicly through competitive bidding, it was discovered that the secret allocations were secretly done over the past one year.
Records made available to Daily Trust by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is the major shareholder of All Grace Energy, which was registered on July 12, 2006 with N30 million share capital.
Mrs Obasanjo-Bello has six million shares, followed by other directors/shareholders: Abe Magnus Ngei (2 million), Mrs Abiri Dorcas (3 million), Dr. Adenikinju Adeola (3 million), Ugbeya Donatus (1 million), Alabi Yekini (1 million) and Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi (1 million).
The company was registered “to operate marginal fields for the purpose of producing petroleum, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas etc,” and has filed annual returns only up to 2007, according to CAC records.
Apparently reacting to the recent report that oil blocks were awarded illegally, Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Osten Olorunsola defended the secret deals. Speaking at a conference in the US, he said the president is empowered by law to make such allocations.
This development flies in the face of the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration's consistent pledges to conduct fresh oil bid round. It is on record that the last public oil block bid was conducted was during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Recall that in 2010, for instance, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said government was trying to “sort out some issues” surrounding the previous bid rounds before it starts fresh ones.
Instead, the government resorted to secret allocation of choice oil blocks to companies belonging to cronies, family members and associates, industry analysts say.
A source at DPR revealed that the process of awarding the oil blocks to Iyabo actually started during Obasanjo’s administration but “a disagreement between Shell and DPR over the area to farm-out couldn’t be reached until recently when the Malabu oil block deal was sealed between the Federal Government and the multinationals.”
An oil industry insider, who craved for anonymity, said if the government continues on this wrong path it would discourage competition among indigenous oil operators and also send wrong signals to international investors.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the DPR, Mrs Belema Osibodu, did not confirm or deny that Iyabo’s company was given the oil block. She however said the marginal fields were awarded based on some "conditions".
Findings reveal that All Grace Energy, in which Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has majority stake, got the oil block -Ubima Creek field OML 17 - in a discretional process without competitive bidding.
Experts and credible sources in the oil industry said the secret allocations are against known international best practices. While the federal government had been telling Nigerians that the process of awarding oil licences will be executed publicly through competitive bidding, it was discovered that the secret allocations were secretly done over the past one year.
Records made available to Daily Trust by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is the major shareholder of All Grace Energy, which was registered on July 12, 2006 with N30 million share capital.
Mrs Obasanjo-Bello has six million shares, followed by other directors/shareholders: Abe Magnus Ngei (2 million), Mrs Abiri Dorcas (3 million), Dr. Adenikinju Adeola (3 million), Ugbeya Donatus (1 million), Alabi Yekini (1 million) and Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi (1 million).
The company was registered “to operate marginal fields for the purpose of producing petroleum, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas etc,” and has filed annual returns only up to 2007, according to CAC records.
Apparently reacting to the recent report that oil blocks were awarded illegally, Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Osten Olorunsola defended the secret deals. Speaking at a conference in the US, he said the president is empowered by law to make such allocations.
This development flies in the face of the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration's consistent pledges to conduct fresh oil bid round. It is on record that the last public oil block bid was conducted was during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Recall that in 2010, for instance, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said government was trying to “sort out some issues” surrounding the previous bid rounds before it starts fresh ones.
Instead, the government resorted to secret allocation of choice oil blocks to companies belonging to cronies, family members and associates, industry analysts say.
A source at DPR revealed that the process of awarding the oil blocks to Iyabo actually started during Obasanjo’s administration but “a disagreement between Shell and DPR over the area to farm-out couldn’t be reached until recently when the Malabu oil block deal was sealed between the Federal Government and the multinationals.”
An oil industry insider, who craved for anonymity, said if the government continues on this wrong path it would discourage competition among indigenous oil operators and also send wrong signals to international investors.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the DPR, Mrs Belema Osibodu, did not confirm or deny that Iyabo’s company was given the oil block. She however said the marginal fields were awarded based on some "conditions".
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