Two days after the deadline given to the review committee to submit its recommendations on the audit of the 2007 Bid Round for the award of oil blocks, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum) is yet to receive the report. A ministry official confirmed to our correspondent on Wednesday, “The committee has not yet submitted its report.”

He disclosed that the Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, was “out of the country” and had not received the report. He, however, could not confirm, whether the committee used the minister’s absence as an excuse for the delay, or if it had indeed concluded its findings.
He noted, “It does not necessarily mean that the committee has not finished its work. Since it was supposed to submit the report to the minister and the minister is not around to receive it, we don’t have it yet.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the just-concluded World Petroleum Congress, in Madrid, Spain, the minister had reassured that the setting up of the committee was in no way an indictment on the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Tony Chukwuekwe, currently on compulsory leave as a result.
He also said it was not a question of the credibility of the process and conduct of the bid round, which held in May last year.

Ajumogobia had said, “It is certainly not an indictment. I have said this before that there wasn’t an issue of impropriety with regards to the setting up of this committee.”
He explained that asking Chukwueke to proceed on leave was a normal civil service procedure, aimed at guaranteeing the integrity of the process.“His being asked to go on leave is a normal due process. Where there is such an issue, it is normal to ask the head of the department to step aside, while there is an audit. It is to be open and transparent and it is even in his interest that he does not in any way impede the process of the report,” he said.

Ajumogobia debunked claims of a possible witch-hunt, given previous investigations of the 2005 and 2006 bid rounds, saying, “Otherwise, I should also be accused of being a witch-hunter because the report was given to me by Mr. President and I reviewed it. “Even though the committee had reached some conclusions, there were also some minor divergences in terms of how particular interests should be treated. But, I think it was a thorough review of the bid round and the report was sent to me for my review and my comments, and I made my comments and a decision was taken.”

He explained that part of the recommendations in the report had financial implications. For example, people who had paid signature bonuses and waiting for the production sharing contracts to be signed and verify that the signature bonuses had indeed been paid.

Some others were to be refunded money in respect of blocks that were not allocated to them, and the committee was to verify and ensure that people who were to be refunded money had in fact, paid.
There were also allegations that some who participated in the round, did not pay for the minimum application and accreditation fees, which was also to be verified.

The minister disclosed that the committee was made up of the representative of the Auditor-General of the Federation, and personnel from both the Audit and Legal departments, and administration of the ministry.
An earlier report submitted by the Olusegun Ogunjana-led committee, set up to investigate claims of impropriety in the conduct of the 2007 bid round, had been mired in controversy, especially since it alluded to the fact that the DPR single-handedly awarded oil blocks to favoured companies.

Ironically, neither the director, nor the erstwhile Minister of Energy, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, who supervised the round, was invited for questioning by the committee.