N33bn Fraud: Moves To Impeach Osinbajo Looms In Senate

The travails of Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo
over the alleged N33bn in National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) is set to be
compounded as plots to begin impeachment
process against him in the Senate are brewing.

Sources revealed that some senators, goaded by
some forces in the villa, are gearing to dust up the
report of the House of Representatives Committee
which investigated the illicit financial activities
within NEMA, amounting to N33bn when Osinbajo
acted as President in 2017. Coincidentally Osinbajo
is also chairman of the governing board of
NEMA.The Senate is expected to resume on
Tuesday September 24.
Indications that the presidency was displeased with
Osinbajo emerged when a memo by the President
mandating him to henceforth take directives from
the President in the management of agencies and
parastatals he was constitutionally empowered to
oversee, a move many interpreted as whittling the
influence of the vice president.
This action on the Vice president comes at a time
the President formed the Economic Advisory
Council with a mandate to report directly to him
which in effect disbands the Economic Management
Team, hitherto under the supervision of Osinbajo.
Osinbajo chairs the governing boards of the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA),
the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and the
Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).
He is also the chairman of the board of directors of
the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC),
a limited liability company owned by the three tiers
of government.

The vice-president also chairs the National
Economic Council (NEC), a constitutional body
made up of state governors and key federal
government officials, as well as the National
Council on Privatisation (NCP).
However, the source revealed that some senators
have been prepped to kick start the process of
Osinbajo’s sack on the grounds of the House of
Representatives report on the sleaze in the
management of intervention fund during Osinbajo’s
tenure acting president.

The House of Representatives had in 2018
investigated the illicit activities in the administration
of intervention funds by the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) under the supervision
of the Osinbajo.

The investigation was sequel to
House plenary resolution on February 15, 2018
which mandated it’s Committee on Emergency and
Disaster Preparedness to investigate the alleged
“Violation of Public Trust in National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA)”
The Committee adopted the following terms of
reference to determine the propriety or otherwise of
the transactions undertaken and expenditures
incurred in the following areas of concern by
management of NEMA.

“(i) The release of N5,865,671,389.26 and
N3,153,000,000.00 as emergency intervention of
Food Security to support the population affected by
insurgency in the North-East in June 2017 and other
releases for the North-East intervention;
“(ii) The 6,779 metric tons of rice donated by
Chinese government to the internally displaced
persons in the North-East;
“(iii) Payment of about N800 Million Demurrage on
the donated Rice by the Chinese government;
“(iiii) Over 10 Billion Naira being statutory 20%
Ecological Funds released between January 2017 to
February 2018 to NEMA;
“(v) The Federal Government of Nigeria Flood
Intervention in the sum of N1,600,000,000.00 to 16
States in July 2017;
“(vi) The over N1.6 Billion released to NEMA for
Evacuation of Nigerians stranded in Libya in 2017;
and
“(vii) Other ancillary issues,” the report made
available to Point blank news revealed.
According to the report, the House Committee
conducted the investigation over a period of three
months in 11 Public Sitting with various
stakeholders.
Invited stakeholders who made presentations at the
hearing were from: (i) The National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA)
(ii) Office of the Accountant General of the
Federation, (iii) Federal Ministry of Finance, (iiii)
Central Bank of Nigeria
(v) Federal Ministry of Budget and National
Planning, (vi) Federal Ministry of Agriculture, (vii)
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,(viii)
Governing Council of NEMA.
Contractors invited and made presentations include
– Dangote Rice Ltd, BUA, WACOT, Golden Agric
Input Ltd., Olam Nig. Ltd., 3 Brothers Nig. Ltd.
Other who made presentations were (x) Office of
Head of Service of the Federation, (xi) The Nigeria
Customs Service, (xii) Nigeria Port Authority, (xiii)
MAESK Line Clearing and Forwarding Agents &
Transporters,
(xiiii) APMT & Maresk Line Clearing Agents &
Transporter, (xv) SEMA
(16 states affected by the flood and 5 out of the 6
states of the North East),
(xvi) CAC, (xvii) PENCOM, (xviii) FIRS
(xix) ITF, (xx) NSITF.
The report revealed damning illict transactions that
happened in the emergency agency with intervention
fund.
Finding on the donation of 6,779 Metric tons of rice
by the Chinese government for IDPs in the North
east, the House Committee said,
“– That the Chinese government donated and
shipped a total of 6,779 metric tons of rice, that is
271 trucks and approximately 162,696 bags of rice
into the country’s seaport in June 2017 meant for
distribution to IDPs in the North-East as food
assistance.
“– That the government Agencies namely – Ministry
of Budget and National Planning, Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and NEMA were
charged with different responsibilities of receiving,
clearing, storage, transportation and distribution of
the consignments to the IDP’s in the North East.
“– That more than one year after the goods were
donated, there is no evidence that the 6 States of
the North East, who are the beneficiaries have
received the items.
“– Evaluation of the correspondences by the
Chinese government on the free donation of the
items and responses by the Federal government
Agencies confirmed that there was adequate
information on the donation, as an Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) was entered into by all the
parties indicating the role to be played by each
Agency. But the rice could not be evacuated over
long period of time at the seaport despite written
letters by Chinese Government to Ministry of Budget
and National Planning after an import waiver had
been obtained from Ministry of Finance, informing
the Nigerian authorities of the consequences of the
delay in clearing the items.
“– The Federal Government paid about N800 Million
as demurrage to APM terminal and Maersk Line for
the consignment due to delay arising from inability
and negligence on part of NEMA, Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of
Budget and National Planning to secure the items
as at when due.
“– APM Terminal provided invoices on the
demurrage showing payment by Ministry of
Agriculture but NEMA testified it made the payment.
NEMA could not however, provide before the
Committee evidence of payment to APM terminal
but the payment reflected in their account book.
“– Ministry of Budget and National Planning was to
provide the funding for the clearing, transportation
of the rice, handling and logistic charges as agreed
in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the
Government Agencies.
“– Ministry of Agriculture was responsible for
providing silos for the storage of the rice.
“– The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed to the
Committee that no single bag of the consignments
was delivered and received from NEMA as at the
time of this report.
“– Global View Logistics Ltd and Baltic Air and
Maritime Services Ltd engaged to clear the rice
were not registered contractors with NEMA, the
Companies were equally not registered with ITF,
NSITF, and PENCOM, as required by existing law,
practice and Regulations.
“– National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA) was saddled with the responsibility of
delivering the consignments to different designated
silos and to distribute all the 6779 metric tons of
the Chinese rice to the IDPs within the 6 States in
the North-East in the following proportion:
S/No States Percentage and Tons Equivalence in
Trucks
1 Borno 35% = 2,372.7 M/Tons 79.09 Trucks
2 Yobe 20% = 1355.8 M/Tons 45.1 Trucks
3 Adamawa 15% = 1016.85 M/Tons 33.89 Trucks
4 Gombe 10% = 677.9 M/Tons 22.5 Trucks
5 Bauchi 5% = 339 M/Tons 11.3 Trucks
6 Taraba 5% = 399 M/Tons 11.3 Trucks
7 Kwali FCT 10% = 677.9 M/Tons 22.5 Trucks
TOTAL 225.5 Trucks
“Ministry of Finance provided Certificate for Import
tax waiver with tax deduction on the consignments
donated to Nigeria by Chinese government
“The 5 State governments in the North-East except
Borno State who did not appear before Committee,
denied receiving any single bag of rice from the
consignment purported to have been delivered and
distributed to the IDPs by NEMA.
“– Due to the testimony of the Director of Finance
and Accounts (DFA) and some staff of NEMA on
payment of demurrage which the management was
not comfortable with, NEMA management hurriedly
convened a Governing Council meeting of NEMA for
the first time in 3 years where it took a decision to
suspend the Director of Finance and 5 other staff of
the Agency without due process and in flagrant
violation of the principle of fair hearing as
guaranteed under Section 36 of the 1999
Constitution as amended.
“– The suspension took place on 2nd April, 2018
which was the date of the inauguration of the
Council Members by the Vice President. This was
done within the period of investigation by the
Committee, and intended to jeopardise and obstruct
the work of the Committee.”
B. RECEIPT AND UTILIZATION OF N1.6BILLION FOR
FLOOD VICTIMS IN 16 STATES
FINDINGS:
– NEMA confirmed receiving the sum of N1.6
Billion released to it by the Federal Government as
Intervention Fund to purchase food items and other
relief materials for distribution to all the 16 States
which was affected by the flood disaster in June
2017. The States are: Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Kwara,
Ebonyi, Niger, Ekiti, Kebbi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau,
Sokoto, Bayelsa, Enugu, Ondo, Abia State and FCT
– The ratio of distribution of the fund for each State
is N100,000,000.00.
– The Committee further confirmed that 11 of the
States received relief items worth less than
N50,000,000.00 each while 5 States received items
worth N70,000,000.00 each from NEMA and only
received the items in March 2018 when the
investigative hearing commenced.
– The relief materials released was an afterthought
and not intended to salvage the situation as the
disbursement happened 9 months after the flood
disaster. Thereby defeating the emergency purpose
for which it was meant.
– NEMA could only account for the disbursement of
N900 Million to the Sixteen States. The balance of
N700 Million could not be accounted for.
C. FUNDS RELEASED FOR EMERGENCY
INTERVENTION OF FOOD SECURITY IN THE
NORTH-EAST
FINDINGS:
– On the emergency intervention of food security to
the North-East to support the population ravaged by
insurgency, a sum of N5,865,671,939.26 was
approved and released in June 2017 vide a memo
raised from the Office of the Acting President,
directing the Hon. Minister of Finance and the
Accountant General of the Federation to so act.
The details further specified a directive to the
Governor of CBN from the Ministry of Finance to
pay the sum from the Consolidated Revenue Fund
Account which the AGF is to raise a mandate
for.This is in contravention of approval of NASS on
the issuance of Euro Bond from which the Hon.
Minister authorized the payment. The Euro Bond is
for specified infrastructural projects and not for
discretionary intervention.
Furthermore, there is no specific appropriation by
the National Assembly.
This contravenes Section 80 (4) of the 1999
constitution as amended: which states:
“No money shall be withdrawn from the
Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund
of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed
by the National Assembly”.
The money was paid to the following companies for
supply of food items to the North East:-
1. Dangote Rice Ltd. = N936,196,800.00
2. Golden Agric Input Ltd. = N1,384,554,236.26
3. BUA Rice Ltd. = N1,322,273,520.00
4. WACOT Ltd. = N453,674,296.00
5. WACOT Ltd = N939,946,089.00
6. NEMA = N829,026,456.00
= N5,865,671,389.26
– Committee noted the flaws and infractions on the
authorization granted and removal of such huge
sum of money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund
Account of the Federation in violation of section
80(2) of the Constitution, Section 16(2) of the
Procurement Act and provisions of the Appropriation
Act as approval of the Legislature was not sought
nor obtained for such expenditure.
– Due process was not followed as taxes and
interest accruable to government were not deducted
and remitted to the FIRS on the sums released and
paid into the accounts of the different corporate
entities shown above, this created colossal loss of
revenue to the Federal Government.
No meeting of the Federal Executive Council was
held approving the contracts to the named
companies and the release and crediting of the
funds directly into the individual companies and
NEMA bank account in blatant violation of approval
limit allowed by law.
– It was revealed in the Public Hearing testimonies
that Dangote Rice Ltd, WACOT Ltd, BUA Rice Ltd
and Golden Agric Input Ltd had earlier received
N2billion each from CBN as loan to mop up grains
across the country.
– All the 6 States of the North East denied ever
receiving this emergency intervention for food
security in the North East for which about N5.8b
was expended by the Federal Government.
– Out of about N5.8Billion. NEMA got
N829,026,456 for logistics and it claimed it spent it
as follows, without satisfactory evidence:
(i) General Logistic N369.5 million
(ii) Branding and packaging N189.00 million
(iii) Others (Marketing, Security, tracking and
media) N248.6 million
(iiii) Contingency N21.9 million
D. RELEASE OF N3,153,000,000.00 TO NEMA FOR
FOOD INTERVENTION TO THE NORTH-EAST
FINDING:
– The Committee noted that NEMA released 2.4
Billion Naira to Olam Nigeria Limited to supply
8,000 metric tons of rice, gave 3 Brother Rice
MillLimited the contract to supply 2,000 metric tons
of rice at N600,000,000 and N153,160,000 for
logistics and transportation of the items, all totaling
N3,153,000,000.00.
– Committee observed that OlamNigeria Limited
and 3 Brother Rice MillLimited were contacted
verbally by Ministry of Agriculture to go to NEMA
for the jobs without due process.
– The contract award letters issued toOlam Nigeria
Limited and 3 Brothers Rice Ltd were all signed by
the Ag. Director of Relief and Rehabilitation and not
by Director of Procurement in contravention of
Public Procurement Act.
– The same Ag. Director of Relief and Rehabilitation
who was saddled with the responsibilities of
receiving the items and distributing them, signed
the award letters without the knowledge of the
Procurement Department. This is tantamount to
breach of the Procurement Act.
– Evidence before the Committee showed that the
World Food Programme (WFP) sought to import
and supply 5000 metric tons of rice to the North
East, at the rate of N11,500 per bag which is
cheaper than the N15,000 per bag offered by local
Nigerian millers. However, the Committees findings
indicate that the concerned Federal Government
agencies namely Federal Ministry of Agriculture and
NEMA offered to subsidise the purchase locally, at
the same rate of N11,500 to World Food
Programme to discourage importation and
encourage local production.
– NEMA now claimed to have donated the 5000
metric tons of rice to WFP instead of allowing WFP
to purchase same and distribute to the North East.
There is no evidence that the WFP received the
5000 metric tons as donation from NEMA, as the
approval of N3.1billion was for NEMA to purchase
the rice and distribute same to the victims of
insurgency in the North East, as WFP did not
provide the Committee with such evidence after
repeated requests.
– Both companies, Olam Nigeria Ltd and 3 Brothers
Rice Mill Ltd, were illegally contracted to carry out
the supplies as their profiles showed that they had
no PENCOM, FIRS, ITF and NSITF Clearance
Certificates in compliance to Section 16 of the
Public Procurement Act.
– The data of 3 Brothers Rice Ltd sighted by the
Committee did not tally with registration name
“Three Brothers Rice Mill Ltd” approved by
Corporate Affairs Commission which means NEMA
gave contract to a non-existent entity.
Therefore the contract awarded to both Olam and 3
Brothers were in violation of the Procurement Act.
E. EVACUATION OF NIGERIANS FROM LIBYA
FINDINGS
– Committee confirmed that the sum of N1.6Billion
was released to NEMA for the evacuation of
Nigerians stranded in Libya in year 2017.
– The Committee also discovered that contract
awarded under this exercise were inflated.
– In the course of the investigations, the Director-
General of NEMA, Eng. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja,
gives account of expenditure as the N1.6Billion to
include evacuations, security personnel logistics
and local transport.
F. UNACCOUNTED N17,889,050,401 RELEASED
FROM ECOLOGICAL FUND TO NEMA
FINDINGS
– The Committee established that 20% of the
Statutory Ecological funds are released to the
National Emergency Management Agency on
monthly basis. This is in compliance with Section
13(2B) of the NEMA Act.
– It was discovered that from January 2017 to May
2018 the total amount released and or received by
NEMA is to the tune of N17Billion.
– Furthermore, NEMA incurs expenditure from the
fund without going through statutory appropriation
approval from the Legislative Arm of Government.
“– The Committee noted that the failure of the
Governing Council of NEMA to forward the details
of the amount released to it to the National
Assembly for Appropriation, consideration by the
Legislature and passage is a gross violation of the
provisions of the Constitution.
“– Due process was also not followed by NEMA on
the contract sums as the Director General exceeded
his approval threshold for both capital and recurrent
expenditure. Withholding and Value Added Taxes
accruable to government for contracts executed
were not remitted to FIRS; thus, resulting to loss of
revenue by Government in violation of Section 16
(1&2) of National Emergency Management Act CAP
N34 LFN 2004.”
Although the Vice President has denied any links to
the fraud and stated that it queried the Director
General of NEMA, Engr. Mustapha Maihaji, at the
time, the House of Representatives had insisted that
Osinbajo had case to answer in the matter.
However, chairman of the investigative committee,
Ali Isa, PDP, Gombe, submitted that being the
chairman of the governing board of NEMA and
approving authority at the time, Prof. Osinbajo might
have questions to answer. “There is nowhere in my
report where I mentioned the Vice President or Prof.
Yemi Osinbajo but he may have questions to answer
as the chairman of the governing board,” he
explained.