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BPE Probe:Umar
blasts OBJ,urges presidency to implement recommendations
By Danlami Nmodu
Newsdiaryonline Wed Dec 21,2011
Col Umar
The Senate
adoption of the findings
and recommendations of its probe
panel on the Bureau of Public Enterprises,BPE
has continued to elicit
reactions from Nigerians. Colonel Abubakar Umar(rtd) in a
statement today urged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to
speak out now about the indictment of his regime by the report.
According to Umar if Obasanjo failed to respond, the most
honourable thing would be for
the former president to return
the GCFR medal in his possession tyo the federal government.
Umar’s words:“On
the part of General Obasanjo, one knows that he has been
chest-beating about his success in the
crusade
against corruption .He
is quick to mention his creation of anti-corruption agencies
like EFCC and ICPC. We
await his reaction
to the charges levelled against him
by the Senate, failing which he should consider returning
the GCFR medal to the Federal Government because he cannot be
holder of the highest honour in the land while being
burdened by these charges.”
Umar who commended the courage of the
senate said he
was not surprised by the
senate panel report
because he had always known that
the public enterprises act was being violated by the
Obasanjo regime. “As one of those who called
to question how
the Obasanjo administration executed
the privatization of
public enterprises, Iam not surprised
by the findings and recommendations of the Senate.I had
always known that the Public Enterprises Act of 1999
was being violated by the Obasanjo administration.The
findings clearly indicate that the Obasanjo
government violated the
public Enterprises Act of 1999,”he said.
The former governor expressed hope that the
presidency would implement the recommendation.
‘’I am optimistic that
the Executive will implement the Senate recommendation. It
(presidency) has no option but to do so if only to convince
the Doubting Thomasses
of its
sincerity in the fight against corruption ’’he said .
The Senate report recommended the reversal
of the sale of some
concerns like DailyTimes , Sheraton Hotel and Towers Abuja,
NICON Luxury,ALSCON,and
Delta Steel Company among others and urged government to
re- advertise them for
sale.The senate also recommended the sack of BPE DG Ms Bolanle
Onagoruwa.The panel also indicted Mallam Nasir el Rufai
and Dr Julius Bala for seeking approvals
directly from
the president
instead of the National Council on Privatization ,NCP as
required by the Public Enterprises Act ,1999.
Umar in today’s statement
also urged the federal
government to review its OPL policy.Said he:
“ the Federal Government may consider stopping the
allocation of OPL (Oil Prospecting Licenses) to indigenous oil
companies with the wrong
assumption that such gesture encourages the participation
of indigenous companies in the oil prospecting business, for the
obvious reason that they do not have the technical knowhow and
capital base to effectively participate .A case in point is the
criminal act in which a serving minister under the Abacha
administration had an OPL allocated to his company, a company
that he was chairman while serving as a minister; an act
that is
clearly a conflict of interest and an illegality.The fact that
this company has now decided to sell its share to Shell
Petroleum Company at a whopping $1.3billion ,it boggles the mind
that government will seek to legalize this policy. It is a
wrongheaded policy that government should review.”
Read Umar’s statement below:
I salute
the courage of the Senate in its probe of
BPE under General
Olusegun Obasanjo. As one of those who called
to question how
the Obasanjo administration executed
the privatization of
public enterprises,Iam not surprised
by the findings and recommendations of the Senate.
I had
always known that the Public Enterprises Act of 1999
was being violated by the Obasanjo administration.The
findings clearly indicate that the Obasanjo
government violated the
public Enterprises Act of 1999..
I am optimistic that the Executive will
implement the Senate recommendation. It (presidency) has no
option but to do so if only to convince
the Doubting Thomasses
of its
sincerity in the fight against corruption.
On the part of General Obasanjo,one knows
that he has been chest-beating about his success in the
crusade
against corruption .He
is quick to mention his creation of anti-corruption agencies
like EFCC and ICPC. We
await his reaction
to the charges levelled against him
by the Senate failing which he should consider returning
the GCFR medal to the Federal Government because he cannot be
holder of the highest honour in the land while being
burdened by these charges.
Related to this, the Federal Government may
consider stopping the allocation of OPL (Oil Prospecting
Licenses) to indigenous oil companies with the wrong
assumption that such gesture encourages the participation
of indigenous companies in the oil prospecting business, for the
obvious reason that they do not have the technical knowhow and
capital base to effectively participate .
A case in point is the criminal act in
which a serving minister under the Abacha administration had an
OPL allocated to his company, a company that he was chairman
while serving as a minister; an act
that is
clearly a conflict of interest and an illegality.
The fact that this company has now decided
to sell its share to Shell Petroleum Company at a whopping
$1.3billion ,it boggles the mind that government will seek to
legalize this policy. It is a wrongheaded policy that government
should review.Th
This is the document referred to in the Witness
Statement on Oath of Clifford O. Koko
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