ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja.] Vol.20. 29-12-13. YOU DARE NOT STEAL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE BLACK GOLD! There is a devious plan by the cabal in government to rob the Nigerian uncommon masses of their only goose that lays the black gold! BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, patriotic and upright Nigerians of integrity MUST rise in unity to salvage whatever is left of our COMMONWEALTH before these prodigals destroy and reduce the citizens to a state of abject poverty! The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC], was established on April 1, 1977, as a merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation [NNOC] and Federal Ministry of Mines & Steel and by legislation NNPC, manages the joint venture between, the Federal Government of Nigeria and a number of foreign multi-national corporations which include, Royal Dutch Shell, AGIP, EXXON MOBIL, CHEVRON and TEXACO (now merged with CHEVRON). Through collaboration with these foreign concerns, NNPC, conducts petroleum exploration and production as the department saddled with the sole responsibility for the upstream and downstream developments, regulation and supervision of the Oil and Gas Industry on behalf of the Nigerian Government. This Sole Administrator status since 1988, when the Corporation, was commercialized into 11 strategic business units, covering the whole spectrum of operations, exploration and production, gas development, refining and distribution, petrochemicals, engineering and commercial investments, metamorphosed NNPC, into a massively petro dollar rich organisation. The cabal however, has tried unsuccessfully to hoodwink all Non-Governmental Organisations [NGOS] and Civil Society Groups with prying eyes to the contrary! Without the NNPC petro dollar money, the Federal Government cannot prepare annual national budgets of appropriation to cater for the economic welfare of all Nigerians and the multiplier effects for such administrative lapse will manifest in the lack of all basic amenities of life, like portable water, medical equipments and drugs for all category of health care facilities, good vehicular roads, agricultural implements for improved farm products, qualitative basic, secondary and tertiary education for all citizens, equitable loans for those who engage in small-scale industry schemes and other economic incentives to make life more meaningful. But the cabal is bent on portraying the activities of this ‘goose’, in a very bad light, with a view to discredit and auction it for sale! Up to December 2011, NNPC remained the only department that could not produce any credible financial record because it was never audited or probed since inception because of the powerful cabal, manipulating its day-to-day economic operations. According to feeders from the House of Representatives, NNPC has no existing record on: *Daily crude oil output, *Export statistics and *Monthly revenue from crude oil sales since the discovery of oil in 1968, and that, between January and November 2013, the corporation, remitted only $7billion out of the $20 billion USD which accrued from crude oil sales into the Federation Account contrary to Section 162 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution! How can a department established by government to harness all derivable economic gains in the petroleum sector suddenly become odious, while all economic activities are revolving around it? The answers can be traced to the unmasked cabal which has hijacked and is controlling all resources accruing to the corporation! The Governors of the 36 States and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], need not raise any finger to finance their projects, domestic or interstate, through internally generated funds; all they need do is, gather at the “Banqueting Hall” in Abuja to collect their monthly ‘Statutory Allocations’ from the oil money, deposited in the Federation Account by NNPC. To date, no past or present Administrator, or any employee of NNPC or its subsidiaries, has been successfully prosecuted for any crime of fraud, oil bunkering, money laundering embezzlement, misappropriation or misapplication of oil and gas proceeds! We are reliably informed that oil bunkering in the Niger Delta is a free-for-all venture for all and sundry. Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, on September 25, 2013, added his voice to prove the enormous wealth at the disposal of NNPC, through a ‘private letter’ in the public domain, to Mr. President, stating that there was a deliberate effort on the part of the corporation to cover up a whooping sum of $49.8billion, USD, of crude oil shipment proceeds, between January 2012 and July 2013, which represented 76 per cent of the value of 594.024 million barrels of crude oil, lifted in the same period! The cabal in government has been acknowledged by both past and present administrations without any positive effort to immobilize its authority. The cabal is the invincible group that calls the shots and is able to fix any challenge in its favour. Presently, different stories are now making rounds; the first was from the author, who stated that, he was probably misinformed of the actual figure and second was Minister of Finance, who told a Senate Committee probing the allegations that only $10.8billion USD, was actually unremitted! This cover-up of the 76per cent of our economic income by those who should expose it, is a big rip off that must be thoroughly investigated and punished. According to the Nigerian Constitution, all mineral, gas and oil, explored and exploited from the country are legal property of the Federal Government and as such, all Oil Corporations operating in Nigeria must appropriate portions of their generated revenue which accrues to nearly 60 per cent, to the Federal Government. The petro dollars gained by NNPC, accounts for 76 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue and 40 per cent of the entire country’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. In the year 2000 alone, oil and gas exports accounted for 98 per cent of Nigeria’s export earnings! These earnings by the Oil and Gas Corporation, had deceived policy makers to turn blind eye to other sources of national revenue in the agriculture and mineral resource sectors. CORRUPTION AT NNPC! In the year 2002, the Head of the Nigerian Wing of Transparency International, observed that, NNPC workers salaries were too low to prevent graft; but we cannot vouchsafe or ascertain that the cabal in government upgraded the salary structure, to appreciable and agreeable level to prevent any form of corruption in view of their hidden agenda to ‘privatize’ it. *In July 2004, ABB VETCO GRAY, a United States based company and its UK Subsidiary, AVG UK LTD, admitted to paying over 1million US dollars in bribes to officials at NNPC subsidiary, National Petroleum Investment and Management Services[NAPIMS], in exchange for obtaining confidential bid information and favourable recommendations from Nigerian Government agencies. *In 2008, WILLBROS GROUP INC., a US Company, admitted to making corrupt payments totalling over $6.3million US dollars to officials at the NNPC and its subsidiary, NAPIMS, in return for assistance in obtaining and retaining contracts for work on the Eastern Gas Gathering System [EGGS]. *In December 2011, the Federal Government, permitted, a forensic report conducted by KPMG, to be published. The audit, commissioned by Federal Ministry of Finance, following concerns over NNPC’S transparency, detailed sharp practices, violation of regulations, illegal deduction of funds belonging to the Nigerian State and failure to account for several billions of naira, that should go to the Federation Account. Auditors found that between 2007-2009 alone, NNPC over deducted funds in subsidy claims, to the tune of N28.5billion Naira and it has not been able to account for the sum ever since. *In November 2013, after a report was published by Transfigura and Vitol, a Swiss Non-Governmental Advocacy Organisation, captioned –The Berne Declaration- allegation of heavy fraud surfaced, placing the NNPC under suspicion of siphoning off $6.8billion US dollars, in oil revenues. On Tuesday December 17, 2013, the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives finally agreed on the crude oil bench mark price of $77.5, to be used as the basis for calculating the expected revenue for 2014 as against the Executive’s proposal of $73 US dollars. It is on record that international crude oil prices had remained at over $100 US dollars in the last six to seven years; why would Nigeria employ a lesser price as her benchmark? With all the chains of the cabal’s fraudulent engagements, it is crystal clear that their interest is in funding the illegal Excess Crude Account[ECA] and the Sovereign Wealth Fund[SWF], which have no ‘locus standi’ in the 1999 Constitution and which are being contested by all the 36 States, in court! From those two illegal accounts, the cabal can milk the country dry! They must not be allowed to discredit the NNPC and SELL IT! We expect Mr President to quickly address the threats issued by all Nigerian petroleum workers to embark on an indefinite strike action in the first week of January 2014, if government insists on privatizing the NNPC. This Godly-endowed black gold and its by-products are the only dividends of democracy that the citizens have earned with their blood and sweat! The protests that led to the untimely deaths of our brethren in January 2011, over Mr President’s unilateral price increase of petroleum products, is still very fresh in our memories. Enough is enough; NNPC belongs to all Nigerians, not to the cabal! King David’s neighbour had only one ewe lamb which he treated as his own child according to the Biblical records in 2Samuel, Chapters 11-20. The divine punishment against the Executive theft of the ewe lamb was devastating and very bloody to the kingly dynasty! The year of our Lord, 2014, is divinely designated for global spiritual transformation of all peoples and all races who would shun the carnal ‘rat race’ and honour God with exemplary life styles. We should not forget that, ‘naked, we came into this world, and naked, we shall return.’ Amen. If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access,to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch]. I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08058436756 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .