Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu
- Scandal linked to arrest of six Britons by NIS
Ejiofor Alike

President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to sanitise the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) faces a major test case following a $260 million contract scandal that rocks the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a subsidiary of the NNPC, THISDAY has learnt.
THISDAY gathered that the contract scandal, which was in respect of projects in ExxonMobil’s Usan deepwater project, led to last Saturday’s arrest of six Britons, being detained in Abuja for violating the Immigration Act, 2015, which carries penalty of 10 years of imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.
Investigation has revealed that in fragrant violation of due process and without approval from both the NNPC’s board and the corporation’s Group Executive Committee (GEC), NAPIMS had fraudulently granted approval for ESSO Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, to award four single source contracts at a total value of $260 million.
THISDAY gathered that without any form of tendering process, NAPIMS had via three memos, single handedly nominated four companies to execute the contracts.
Curiously, the three memos dated October 13, 2014; February 10, 2015 and April 16, 2015, have the same reference – NAP/PSC/MM/07.01, thus further strengthening the allegation of fraud in the transaction.
Though the alleged contract scam was said to be part of the rot perpetrated under the previous NAPIMS’ management, it was also learnt that the present management has misled the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on the facts of the matter in their determination to cover the fraud apparently for their pecuniary benefits.
When contacted on Tuesday, NNPC’s Group General Manager in charge of NAPIMS, Mr. Dafe Sejebor, declined to respond to text messages sent to him by THISDAY for clarification on the matter.
THISDAY also contacted him on Wednesday through his known cell phone numbers but he insisted that they were wrong numbers.
The spokesman of NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe however, promised a response, which did not come as at press time.
A spokesman of ExxonMobil also promised on Tuesday that the company would issue a statement on the matter but the company did not issue any response as at the time of going to press.
A dependable source within ExxonMobil, who was not authorised to speak on the matter, told THISDAY that the six Britons were hired and brought into the country by the bona fide contractor handling the provision of the Offshore Inspection Maintenance and Repair (OIMR) vessel as well as the Workclass Remotely Operated Vehicle (WROV) for the Usan project.
The source further disclosed that one year to the expiration of the five-year contract, NAPIMS issued illegal approval for the contract to be re-awarded to GMT Energy Resources Limited and three other companies for $260 million.
According to him, the new contractors lacked the capacity to execute the job and had to illegally engage the six Britons who were hired by the original contractor executing the project.
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigrations Service (NIS), Mr. Martins Kure-Abeshi, had told the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Interior last Monday that the six Britons were arrested for alleged breach of the country’s immigration law.
“One company employed them. They were in the services of that company, but they travelled out. When they were coming back, another employer gave them visa to come, which is against immigration law. It is against the law of the land. So, their first employer complained about these expatriates, so it is an offence they have committed and we have ordered their deportation,” Kure-Abeshi had explained.
The source at ExxonMobil further told THISDAY that since NAPIMS had nominated four companies to execute the project, the contract did not go through tendering process.
He acknowledged that the contract violated the Public Procurement Act of 2007 but added that his company’s hands were tied by NAPIMS.
“There are so many illegalities in the contract. Somebody in NAPIMS just sat on his table and nominated four companies to execute the contract without any tendering process and without approval by the NNPC’s board and Group Executive Committee (GEC). Due process was not followed. The termination of the legal contract is also illegal. It is true that we complained to NAPIMS that we could no longer afford to work with two vessels in the old contract arrangement because of the drop in oil price but what should have been done is to re-negotiate with the bona fide contractor and not to terminate the contract and replace it with illegal contract,” the source explained.
He declined to reveal the identity of the contractor who was legally awarded the project.
THISDAY gathered that the controversial contracts involve the provision of DP2-DP3 Construction Platform Vessel; Provision of DP2 4800 DWT Platform Support Vessel (PSV); and provision of Fast Supply Intervention Vessel (FSIV) for Usan deepwater project.
ESSO took over the operatorship of Usan field from Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) on February 1, 2014, and inherited all contracts running on the Usan field.
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