Kachikwu: FG won’t interfere in Malabu oil probe

Minister for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has said that the Federal Government will not stop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other crime bodies from probing corrupt individuals in the ongoing Malabu Oil Prospecting Lease, OPL 245 scandal.

Kachikwu made this known in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), Olanrewaju Suraju, on Monday.

The organisation had written the minister, warning the government against compromising the investigation and prosecution of Malabu and by extension ENI with his (Kachikwu’s) recent endorsement of ENI on his recent trip to Italy.

While addressing journalists on the sidelines of the annual Offshore Technology Conference in Houston Texas, USA in May, Kachikwu had said that the Zabazaba deepwater project in OPL 245 will continue in spite of controversies surrounding the oil block.

He said the project, a Greenfield offshore licence block located in the OPL 245, which is to be carried out by the trio of the Federal Government, Shell and the Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE), would go on as scheduled and the protracted dispute on the block with Malabu oil will not affect it.

“We need to talk because without any impact in terms of the project, which must continue, these are huge billions of dollars of investment in Nigeria, I am not going to shut that down. The issue of the criminality is outside my realm,” he had said.

“My realm is doing two things: Make sure the investment go ahead so we can get returns, and two, get back the one billion dollars from wherever they said they have put it and give me back the money so that the Federal Government can have it back,” he added.

Shortly afterwards, news made the rounds that NNPC had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with ENI on the deal.

Due to the development, stakeholders had voiced their opinion that Kachikwu’s stance on the OPL 245 scandal, which saw ENI and Shell pay $1.1 billion through the Nigerian government to private accounts of a convicted money launderer, is against that of the EFCC which wants the block returned to the Nigerian government since it was ‘fraudulently’ obtained.

OPL 245 was awarded in 1998 to Malabu, a firm partly owned by then Petroleum minister, Dan Etete, in violation of Nigerian laws, since the company was later found to have a fictitious director on its board.

But in his response to the CSNAC enquiry, Kachikwu said the government would await the actions of the court before taking far-reaching decisions in terms of its dealing with ENI.

According to him, the Federal Government’s relationship with ENI still stands as a Joint Venture Partner, and that the government would continue to engage the company for the benefit of the country.

Kachikwu, however, noted that while the government pursues its commercial interest in the deal with ENI, it will not hesitate to enforce the nation’s laws if the need arises.

“Please be assured that the Federal Government has no interests in interfering with the court processes and investigations into the issues surrounding the award of OPL 245 to Malabu oil, least of all in matters relating to corrupt dealings.

“Hence, whilst we will continue to superintend the interest of the Federal Government in our commercial relationship with the upstream partners, the Government will not refrain from pursuing the enforcement of our laws,” he said.