KACHIKWU, BARU AND THE NNPC
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, last week, raised an alarm at his sidelining in the affairs of the state- owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru. He went on to allege that the latter awarded a whopping $26 billion juicy contract without following due process. Kachikwu, the hitherto egghead groomed by Harvard University, has been rendered so ineffective that he has been allegedly denied access to President Muhammadu Buhari since his return from medical vacation in England. He also went on to say that many important appointments were made without consulting the board. He heard about them like every other Nigerian. The GMD hardly attends board meetings and he has entrenched a culture of fear in the parastatal that lays the golden egg.
So many issues arise from this Kachikwu scream. Baru is accountable to Buhari, who doubles as petroleum minister, and the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who is also a member of the NNPC board. Could he have awarded such a huge contract unilaterally? Is he the sole signatory to NNPC contracts?
Could it be possible that Buhari is in the know? Could Kachikwu be held in contempt as he comes from a less favoured tribe? Let’s look at the way and manner he was removed as the helmsman of the NNPC last year to pave way for the surreptitious northern agenda. Is he just being tolerated for the sake of the now much discredited federal character?
Why is there a conspiratorial silence from the Presidency on this matter since Baru is an appointee of the president? The administration came to power on the wave of the change slogan, which promised to be a departure from the old order of corruption and impunity. Why hasn’t Baru been asked to publicly state his side of the story in a government that claims to have zero tolerance for corruption?
Why is there a sense of deja vu that Buhari is the petroleum minister now that $26 billion has been allegedly mismanaged?
The fight against corruption has become a gargantuan joke as no single successful prosecution has been recorded so far. The Babachir Lawal and Ayodele Oke’s alleged corruption saga still remain puzzles with no prosecutions or the cases even being conclusive yet. The wave of public opinion is fast swinging against the idea that Buhari is incorruptible, with disillusionment fast setting in. Some of his critics even went as far as vehemently criticising his time as Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund and one wonders why his handling of the petroleum sector always tends to raise a lot of dust.
It is commendable that the Senate has risen up to the occasion by inaugurating a committee to probe the allegations raised by Kachikwu, headed by former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aliyu Wamakko. While the act is cheering news, we hope that the recommendations see the light of day, as many probe committees just make a lot of noise with no results at the end of the day.