Uzo Nwogu
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre, has urged foreign countries where Nigeria’s looted funds are stashed to return such funds to Nigeria.
HEDA Chairman and Executive Secretary, Mr Olarenwaju Suraju and Mr. Arigbabu Sulaimon respectively, made the call on Thursday in Lagos during one day workshop on, “Illicit flow, gas flaring as albatross to Nigeria’s climate change response: Building momentum towards COP 26.”
The workshop was organised by HEDA, Re:Common and Cornerhouse in collaboration with the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. It was supported by MacArthur Foundation.
They lamented the continued withholding of looted funds by foreign countries, adding that such had inhibited development in Nigeria.
They also said efforts should be made to stop gas flaring in Nigeria.
Suraju said, “It is critical that looted funds should be repatriated. That is what we have been working on for 8 years to ensure that we have the repatriation of our stashed away assets and funds, illicit or illicit. Either it is hidden or blatant, either it is owned by the private persons or enablers or the public people. So we have seen how we are said to be losing about $15bn every year to illicit financial flow, Nigeria alone. That is humongous amount of money that can be used to start developing the new machinery, new capacities, new training that is required for Nigeria to migrate from fossil fuel and the exposure from the impact of climate change. So we do not need aid, we do not need free money because we have the money that is stashed somewhere and it is known. It is not hidden. We just need that to come back to us.
“It is time for those countries where Nigeria’s looted funds are still domiciled to start talking of refunds to us. We are telling them that we know that the money is there. We are telling them that they are our entitlement. They are not charity and gift that we are asking. They are our entitlement and we are saying return them to us.”
He added, “In 2018 alone it is reported that Nigeria lost up to $563m to uncollected penalties from gas flaring, just for one year. When you look at the pollution to water, go to Bayelsa and you will see the number of the impact of gas flaring on the water and how the inhabitants of the water are dying which are sources of livelihood to people around that area.
“Gas flaring is not just contributing to Nigeria’s contribution to greenhouse gas emission but is killing the people. It is reducing their capacity for sustainability and it is impacting the environment locally.
“The workshop is to build Nigeria’s response to both the climate change that is coming up in Glasgow but to present a nationally agreed position on how Nigeria wants to deal with it and that is why we are bringing the issue f gas flaring penalties and the illicit financial flows stoppage as a basis where Nigeria can also generate fund that is required for transition to fossil fuel.”
Sulaimon said, “There is so much talk on climate change and not so much on the ground to show for that. Unfortunately, each time we gather to talk, we fail to take concrete actions on our resolutions. The people living with the realities continue to be impacted.
“Climate change like COVID, impact everybody. That is why an issue like flooding is not an African problem, an Asian problem, you see it in the most developed cities of the world. When you talk of fire incidence, you see it in developed countries.
“When we say that global average temperature is increasing, and it is distorting and destabilising the eco-system, it does not affect only the poor. Only that it affects us to some different extent. If we do not do something fast to tame climate change leading to global warming, especially those that are caused by the activities of man, we might be going extinct. So it is an existential problem for the world. Every country in the world have common but differentiated responsibilities. We all must act on climate change.
“Six things that are tragic for Africa. Africa is the least responsible for climate change, we are the worst affected, the continent is least able to cope, because of our economic reality and the level of the development of our infrastructure. Another is that all the opportunities that have been coming because of climate change, (people are bringing in new technologies) Africa is not a participant. It is a dumping ground. We are not part of that conversation. The big climate investments are not coming here. They only dump the technologies that did not work well or test on us. Another is that the money that we would have used to develop ourselves is being lost through illicit financial flow. Companies of the countries that are supposed to support us to get out of this mess come in, refuse to pay their dues, their fair share in terms of taxes and fail to do proper environmental practices. That is why you still have some multinationals do gas flaring continuously here.
“Something that they can not do in their home countries. Some gas flaring is still an issue for a country as Nigeria. And the little ones that we are supposed to make are being filtered away through illicit financial flow. You are all aware of how some Nigerians and their international collaborators defrauded this country of billions of dollars. So what we are saying and what we are demanding is that even if you are not giving us the one you owe as of ecological debt, at least stop fleezing us, stop pilfering from Africa, Return the loot in your various countries. Abacha died a few years ago. All the money he stole, until now we have not received up to 10 per cent of it. It is a matter of justice that if you are not giving us the fund that you owe us.”
Chairperson, Board of Trustees, HEDA, Prof. Ayodele Atsenuwa, said illicit financial flow has led to serious development challenges in Nigeria.
Atsenuwa, who is also Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Services) the University of Lagos called on Nigerians to hold the government to account.
She said, “We have been concerned about illicit financial flow because that really is part of what accounts for the serious development challenges that we are facing. In the continuum of corruption, it is what actually makes it even more difficult to curb corruption. When corruption takes place and if it was something that was within a territory, you would imagine that you would be able to trace easier and be able to identify and easier repatriated or at least, hold on to. But when it crosses borders, then you get into the web of international legal framework whether you can trace, how you can trace, how you can repatriate, the issues of justice and it becomes all the more complex.
“It becomes all the more complex because the countries of the world do not all have one legal tradition. And so you find that what is permissible in A jurisdiction is not permissible in B jurisdiction. And in any case, there are countries that “believe that they are smart enough” to optimise the advantage of illicit financial flows and so they have rules that allow their territories to be safe havens and make it easier for illegally obtained wealth to be safeguarded and kept beyond the reach of law enforcement and justice. There are legal frameworks to address this but the challenge remains step. But it is not just illicit financial flows that are a problem. There is also the problem of gas flaring. We have been talking about gas flaring for about 30 years. When I saw the documentary that was done a few moments ago, I wondered how it could be that we are still where we are.
“It is so obviously harmful and to think that this is perpetuated all too often by foreign companies. This is not a crime that is hidden. This is in our face. We know it, we see it and yet it looks like we are powerless to stop it. We are not powerless to stop it. We are not willing to stop it because it is part of the grand scheme of corruption. It is part of the grand scheme of optimising the gains of illegality First of all by not address the illegality and also by allowing those who gain from it not to come to justice. We can not continue like that and that is why we have COP 26 and this forum.
“The forum as it is going on today is to enable us who feel concerned enough and who recognise that usually, the world does not change except influencers put pressure on those who have the power to make a change. That is why we are here to engage in discourse to strategise on how iti s we can influence those who have the power to change things. The government is supposed to be accountable to the people but for government to be accountable to the people, the people must be able to hold the government to account. CSO, like HEDA are initiatives of people to hold the government to account. But CSOs like HEDA can not do it alone that is why they need partners.”
Zonal Head, Lagos, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ahmad Muhammad Ghali, said the agency had been active, recovering looted funds in Nigeria.
He stated that the agency would ensure the recovery of any re-looted funds if it was aware of such a malpractice.
He stated that Nigeria is a country blessed with abundant natural gas deposits and associated gas; adding that when harnessed effectively, could boost economic growth, clean energy and drive electric turbines to generate power in the country.
He decried that despite the enormous advantages of associated gas, the alleged continuous gas flaring activities of international oil companies and their domestic counterparts has led to substantial loss of these natural resources and pollution of the environment.
Ghali said, “Historically the discovery of oil in commercial quantities at the ancient Oloibir Port Harcourt in 1959, and in other regions of the country, saw many multinational oil companies scramble for production and exploration of crude oil in Nigeria. In an attempt to refine crude oil, petroleum products such as AGO (Automotive gas Oil), Premium Motor Spirit) DPL, keroene, cooking gas Etc. Associated gases are produced. The multinational Oil Companies and their local counterparts in Nigeria flare this residual gas into the air, thus, increasing the carbon mono-oxide in the atmosphere and deplete the Ozone layer causing global warming.
“At it is the case with most responsive governments, Nigeria via the Associated-Gas Reinjection Act 1979, introduced measures to control and eventually end gas flaring. Section 3(1) prohibits the flaring of Associated Gas ‘without the permission in writing of the Minister of Petroleum,” Section 3(2) authorises the Minister to issue a flaring certification “utilisation or re-injection of the produced gas if it is not appropriate or feasible in a particular field or fields. Another landmark achievement of this Act was the imposition or penalty to companies engaged in gas flaring.
“Regrettably, most Multinational Oil Companies operating in Nigeria has over the years been falsifying gas flare data to cut down on payment of penalties. The former Petroleum Minister, Dr Ibe Kachukwu put the loss from this illicit flow to between Five Hundred Million dollars ($500,000,000.00) and One Billion Dollars ($1,000,000,000) in revenues that would have accrued from the penalties. This is as a result of not having an independent tracking mechanism to monitor gas flare data and reliance on the figures submitted to International Oil Companies.”
He added, on “Towards a clean energy in Nigeria: the journey so far:” The Petroleum Profit Tax, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (Fiscal Incentive Guarantees and Assurance) Act, Associated Gas Re-injection Act, Private sector let initiatives like the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project and the Domestic gas Supply Obligation (DGSOs) are some of the laudable initiatives towards a clean energy transition in Nigeria. Whereas this initiative towards a clean energy transition in Nigeria. Whereas this initiative have been a success, we have not made as much progress as was envisaged due to the inability to effectively put an end to gas flaring and prevent illicit financial flows resulting from the fraudulent declaration by the operators in the oil and gas industry.
“One of the remarkable projects that would have been transformed the country to the part of clean energy is the Process & Industrial Development which regrettably did not see the light of the day for lack of execution capacity on the part of the sponsors. The EFCC was instrumental in quashing the fraudulent Nine Billion Six Hundred Million Dollars ($9,600,000,000) judgement debt against Nigeria in favour of the promoters of the company.
“Currently, the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Policy (NGFCP) which is an offshoot of the National Gas Policy is designed to offer a series of auction rounds to third party bidders in commercialisation of flare gas with the ultimate aim of ending flaring. This has become expedient in view of the high cost associated with transitioning to safe and clean energy.”
He further said, “As the world prepares for yet another global climate change conference caption COP 26 in Glasgow United Kingdom, we must make concerted efforts in ensuring that we protect the World Against gas flaring and all forms of environmental crime. Regulators in the oil and gas industry must implement an effective tracking mechanism to check the gas flaring data submitted by operators in the industry and block loopholes that give rise to illicit financial flows.”