Derivation and deprivation: Why the North is poor

Special Report
By Ross Alabo-George

ACCORDING to official figures, the
leading oil producing state, Rivers,
received N1,053 billion between
1999 and 2008 in federal
allocations. By contrast the North-
eastern states of Yobe and Borno,
where the Boko Haram sect was
created, received N175bn and
N213bn respectively. Broken down
on a per capita basis, the contrast is
even starker. In 2008 the 18.97m
people who lived in the six states in
the north-east received on average
N1,156 per person.
“By contrast Rivers State was
allocated N3,965 per capita, and on
average the oil producing South-
South region received on average
N3,332 per capita. This imbalance is
compounded when the cost of an
amnesty programme for militants in
the delta is included together with
an additional 1 per cent for a special
development body for the Niger
Delta. To boot, the theft of oil by
profiteers in the region diverts tens
of millions more weekly from federal
coffers. – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
YES, forget these per capita figures!
I agree the North is poor. Yes, I
agree the poverty has bred millions
of destitutes, who have become
instant and easy recruits for Boko
Haram. But my question is: Who
impoverished the North?
A caveat: I am an unabashed
capitalist who believes that every
citizen has a right to do good
business and make profit. I salute
hard work and do not disparage
honest efforts. However,
uncompassionate capitalism driven
by pulleys of aristocracy breeds a
brutal class order worthy of
condemnation.
In my last article titled – ‘El
Rrufai’s amnesia: The day Boko
Haram Wore Jeans’ , I categorically
stated that greed and the senseless
chase for power by the Fulani
aristocrats and political elite of the
North are responsible for the
extreme poverty of the North. I still
and will always stand by that. My
position did not go down well with
my targets; they responded
vituperatively.
Mallam Sanusi’s statistics was
intended to mislead us by ruffling
the rudder of our common sense.
See, Ekiti state has a 2012 budget
0f N88 billion; Kwara State, N90
billion; Cross River State, N144
billion; Anambra State, N82 billion;
Enugu State, N74 billion. Now let’s
look at the 2012 budgets recently
passed into law by the four major
Boko Haram occupied states – Kano
State has a budget of N 210 billion;
Borno State, 150 billion; Gombe,
N94 billion; Yobe State, 80 billion.
A simple comparative analysis
shows that Ekiti State has about the
same revenue as Yobe and Gombe,
but only 17 students passed WAEC
and NECO in Gombe state last year,
while Ekiti is known for its high
literacy level. Gombe State has a
bigger budget that Enugu and
Anambra, why has MASSOB not
bombed anyone.
Borno State has a budget twice that
of Enugu State but the poverty and
unemployment level in Borno State
is more than thrice that of Enugu
State. Borno has a bigger budget
than a Niger Delta state – Cross
River. While the leaders of Cross
River over the last decade have
transformed it into the nation’s
leading tourist destination; those of
Borno have transformed it into a
Somalia.
Kano State gets the highest
statutory allocation from the Federal
Government, because on paper
Kano is the most populated state in
Nigeria, yet Kano has about 1.6
million destitute Almajiris. Kano has
a budget almost thrice the budget
of Enugu, twice the budget of
Kwara, Anambra and Ekiti, but how
come almost 90 per cent of
students in Kano fail WAEC? How
come the poverty level in Kano is
higher than all these states put
together? Why is the North so poor?
From the figures above I have
shown that Southern states with
lesser budgets have shown better
development performance than
most North Eastern states with
bigger statutory allocation and
budgets.
Now, I need to tackle the sensitive
question of revenue allocation that
has infuriated the Mallam Lamido
Sanusi and Mallam Elrufai and their
likes. Niger Delta states get higher
revenue allocation because they
contribute virtually all the eggs in
the national crate. That is expected.
Albeit the 13 per cent remains
grossly inadequate, the CBN
Governor has suggested that his
Boko boys are resisting the
disparity.
I want to posit that the North-East
through their aristocrats and ex-
military rulers (except Gen.
Mohammed Buhari) rake in more oil
money (from the Niger Delta)
individually than any Niger Delta
state, and collectively more than
twice the entire Niger Delta put
together. In this disquisition, I have
attempted to show that 80 per cent
of crude oil and gas produced by
indigenous companies is controlled
by the North-East. It is an area they
have well conquered through
Generals IBB, Abacha and
Abdulsalami. However, the loots
never get back home.
Uneven nature of the
distribution
In this first part I will attempt to
describe the very uneven nature of
the distribution of the nation’s
wealth among the Northern
aristocratic families and their
military generals who for decades
looted Nigeria. They did so blatantly,
and while Nigeria was weeping
about oil windfall loot and others,
Nigerians would wail if they know
how much of the nation’s resources
these folks allocated to themselves
and their business fronts before
they stepped aside.
Let us therefore begin: To the
state of origin of Boko Haram: Borno
State. Enter Cavendish Petroleum,
the operators of OML 110 – with
good yielding OBE field. This oil
block was awarded to Alhaji Mai
Deribe – the Borno patriarch, who
even in death will remain the richest
man dead or alive in the history of
Borno State – by General Sani
Abacha on July 8, 1996. OML 110
has a proven oil reserve in excess of
500 million barrels (more than the
entire 300million barrels reserve of
Sudan). As yet with the capacity to
produce about 120,000 barrels of
crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and
OBE 5 wells. At optimal production
levels, Cavendish nets circa
N4billion monthly in crude oil sales
(using current oil price of $100pb).
Cavendish Petroleum’s N4bn
monthly net dwarfs the monthly
statutory allocation of Borno which is
about N3bn and its internally
generated revenue staggers around
N1billion.
His mansion in Maiduguri has
become a tourist attraction. A
simple Google search will throw up
different perspectives of Mai
Deribe’s palatial home.
Enter Oriental Energy Resources
Limited, a company owned by Alhaji
Mohammed Indimi, a Fulani and
close friend of General Ibrahim
Babangida. Also worthy of note is
that General IBB’s first son is
married to Alhaji Mohammed
Indimi’s daughter – Yakolo Indimi-
Babangida, who also serves as a
director in the company. Alhaji
Indimi hails from Borno State.
Good yielding offshore oil blocs
Oriental Energy Resources Limited
runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the
Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML
115 and Okwo are OML PSC, while
Ebok is an OML JV. All of them good
yielding offshore oil blocks. OML 115
on its own is 228 sqKm. On OML115
Oriental Energy Resources Limited
has 60 per cent while Equity Energy
Resources AS. On Okwok, Addax has
40 per cent and on the Ebok field,
Oriental Energy Resources shares
with none: its 100 per cent. AMNI
produces twice as much as
Cavendish Petroleum.
I will then shift to the centre of the
aristocratic hegemony in the North
East – Kano. Here. Enter the Fulani
Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, Mallam
(Prince) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s
cousin. He is a key shareholder and
director in Seplat/Platform
petroleum operators of the Asuokpu/
Umutu Marginal Field with a
capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly
and A 30mmfcsd gas plant capable
of feeding 100MT of LPG. The Ado
Bayeros, Yar’Aduas and Atiku
Abubakar are Nigerian directors of
Intels. It is a private port that has
grounded three Federal ports in the
South. Intels is discussed later.
Enter South Atlantic Petroleum
Limited (SAPETRO). South Atlantic
Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian
Oil Exploration and Production
Company that was created in 1995
by General T. Y. Danjuma. General
Sani Abacha awarded the Oil
Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to
SAPETRO in February 1998.
The block covers a total area of
2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles).
SAPETRO partnered with Total
Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and
Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria
Ltd (Petrobras) to start prospecting
on OPL246. Akpo, a condensate field
was discovered in April 2000 with
the drilling of the first exploration
well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other
discoveries made on OPL 246
include the Egina Main, Egina South,
Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was
suspended as a dry gas/minor oil
discovery).
Barrels of condensate
In June 2006, General TY Danjuma
divested part of its contractor rights
and obligations to China National
Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for
$1 billion (N160bn). Akpo exports
about 230,000 barrels of
condensate daily. Condensate
export is not regulated by OPEC, so
SAPETRO/TOTAL exports as much as
possible each day. Egina exports
about 75,000 barrels of oil daily.
Therefore, Akpo and Egina fields
export just over 300,000 barrels of
oil/condensate daily (three times
what the country Ghana exports).
SAPETRO (TY Danjuma) get 25 per
cent of this. Now, note I have not
talked about the gas component –
it’s about 2.5 trillion cubic feet. The
money SAPETRO nets each month is
more than the monthly statutory
allocation of all the Niger delta
states combined and also more than
the oil revenue of Ghana. Do your
maths.
Enter AMNI (or is it AMIN?)
International Petroleum
Development Company. AMNI owns
two oil blocks – OML 112 and OML
117. In the production sharing
contract, AMNI gets 60 per cent for
owning the oil block and Total gets
40 per cent for providing technical
advice. OML 112 was awarded on
the 12/02/1998 while OML 117 was
awarded 06/08/1999 all by Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar. Operations
started on both blocks 0n
26/02/2006. The licenses are due to
expire 11/02/2018 and 05/08/2019
respectively. (Now you see why the
next election is important?)
The Okoro and Setu fields in OML
112 are operated by Afren Energy, a
company substantially controlled by
Rilwanu Lukman. The Okoro and
Setu oil fields have about 50 million
barrels in reserve and currently
produce/exports just a little below
20,000 barrels per day. The
chairman of AMNI International
Petroleum and Development
Company is Alhaji (Colonel) Sani
Bello a Fulani from Kontagora, Niger
State. Lest I forget, Alhaji Bello’s son
– Abu, is married to General
Abdusalami Abubakar’s eldest
daughter.
Enter Express Petroleum and Gas
Limited floated by Alhaji Aminu
Dantata. General Abacha awarded
him OML 108 on the 1st of
November, 1995. CAMAC Houston, a
company owned by Kase Lawal
bought 2.5 per cent of Express
Petroleum’s 60 per cent holdings.
The other 40 per cent on OML 108 is
owned Sheba E&P Limitedi. SEPCOL
operates the Ukpokiti offshore field
in Shallow water Nigeria, which was
acquired from ConocoPhillips in May
2004.
Enter Shebah Exploration And
Production Limited (SEPCOL) . It is
the operator of the Oil Mining
License 108 offshore Nigeria. Head
office is in Lagos, but ‘head
quartered’ in Minna.
Enter Consolidated Oil. Conoil
Producing Limited is an integrated
upstream oil and gas company.
They are the operator of six blocks
in the Niger Delta as well as 25 per
cent Equity holder in the Joint
Development Zone (JDZ) Block 4.
Corporate Head office is in Lagos,
but its ‘Headquarters’ is in Minna,
Niger State.
Conoil signed a technical operator
agreement with Continental Oil and
Gas Limited (CONOG) to provide
100% funding and technical service
agreement to operate blocks OML
59 on a 40 per cent (Conoil) / 60 per
cent (CONOG) basis. Conoil entered
into a Production Sharing Contract
with the NNPC by virtue of an
agreement executed on October 17,
2008.
Conoil’s has overall potential
hydrocarbon resources of over 1.0
billion barrels of oil and 7.0 trillion
cubic feet of gas. General Ibrahim
Babangida awarded the first oil bloc
to Conoil in 1991. The company
produces about 100,000 barrels per
day.
Enter Rilwanu Lukman, another
Fulani multimillionaire with
controlling holdings in Afren, the
operators of AMNI oil blocks and also
with very key interest in the NNPC/
Vitol trading deal, Vitol is a London
based oil trading company. Vitol lifts
350,000 barrels of crude oil daily
from Nigeria.
Enter Intels and the Yar’Adua, Ado
Bayero family and Alhaji Abubakar
Atiku. The Oil and Gas Free Zone
and Oil Services Centres, as well as
support bases, are operated from
government-owned facilities, leased
to Intels under long-term
agreements. Intels runs a ‘private
port’, a venture that has
systematically killed the Calabar,
Warri and Port Harcourt ports.
More money in profit
There are over one hundred major
companies operating at the Intel
facility in Port Harcourt. The
company makes more money in
profit than the government of
Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states put
together. I shall give details and
figures in part two of this
disquisition.
Finally, let me introduce you to
NorthEast Petroleum. The name is
as clear as the message it sends. I
do not need to write so much about
NorthEast Petroleum registered as
NorEast. NorthEast Petroleum
Nigeria Limited is the holder of
OPL215 license, covering an area of
2,564 square kilometres in water
depths between 200 to 1600
metres. NorEast is the parent
company of Rayflosh Petroleum
Nigeria which got the 2005 bidding
round and was awarded the blocks
OPLs 276 and 283 closing
thereupon a Joint Venture
Agreement with Centrica Resources
Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and
Gas.
Not surprising, NorthEast Petroleum
is owned by another Fulani
businessman from the North East,
Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo. The
license was awarded to him by
General Ibrahim Badamosi
Babangida in 1991 and then
renewed in 2004. So far $50million
has been spent on the very
promising Okpoi-1 and Egere -1
exploratory well.
In the Part II, we shall finish the
discussion. We will table other North
Eastern billionaires who make more
money than their states of origin
from Niger Delta oil blocks.
With all these oil blocs owned by
‘North- Easterners’ in the Niger
Delta, it should be clear to El-Rufai
and Sanusi who really benefits from
the Niger Delta Amnesty
Programme.
Sadly, the National Bureau of
Statistics Poverty Profile Report just
released shows the North East as
the poorest region in the nation with
69.1 and 76.3 as absolute and
relative poverty levels respectively,
while the South-West had the lowest
poverty profile with 49.8 as absolute
poverty level and 59.1 relative
poverty level. With these figures
from the National Bureau of
Statistics, I rest my case. The rich
man’s wealth is his strong city: the
destruction of the poor is their
poverty. Let us reason together.

Source: Vanguard online