Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana made a Freedom of Information act request from Nigeria's petroleum Industry, asking for Nigeria's Fuel Importation data for a period. Upon reciept, the state minister for petroleum Dr Ibe Kachikwu forwarded the request to the NNPC to provide the information.
But Dr Maikanti Baru's NNPC replied via her lawyers, O.B Omale solicitors declining the request on the grounds that it is not a public corporation. In response to Femi Falana, NNPC stated 'Please be informed that our client doesn’t fall under the purview of the freedom of information (FOI) Act, 2011,”
“The provision of the act particularly section 31 thereof is clear and unambiguous as to the meaning of public institution.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the section provides as follows: public institution means any legislative, executive, judicial, administrative or advisory body of the government including boards, bureau, committees, or commissions of the state and any subsidiary body of those bodies including but not limited to committees, and sub-committees which are supported in whole or in part by public funds or which expends public funds and private bodies providing public services performing public function or utilizing public funds.
“Our client is neither a legislative, executive, judicial, administrative or advisory body of government of Nigeria.
“It is a body established by the law to manage the commercial interests of Nigeria in the oil and gas sector and conduct trade therein. It cannot therefore by any stretch of imagination be brought within the definition of public institution under the act"
Now, O.B. Omale, who replied the letter on behalf of NNPC stated that there were already judicial endorsements on this position in several cases.
The NNPC went further to state that even if it would ever qualify as a public institution, the information requested for is not within the purview of the act as it involves trade secrets, non-disclosure agreement and third parties.To worsen it, the NNPC stated that the information does not serve any public interest in its opinion and thus cannot be granted.
We are in for interesting times
Now the president is the Minister for petroleum. The NNPC chairman is Dr Baru and Dr Ibe Kachikwu is the State Minister for petroleum.
In defining what is a public corporation, I am shocked that Omale Solicitors does not agree that the NNPC is commissioned by the Nigerian state to do what it does. Now this is a corporation which as at 5:57pm on the 5th June 2018 stated on its group website , 'The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is the 'state oil corporation....'. What is a state oil corporation? A personal business? I also noticed that the critical phrase '....Including but not limited to....' Has disappeared from Omale's quoted response as stated in the act.
Thirdly Baru's NNPC is not a Public corporation as he said but it is supported 'in whole and in part with public funds' as stated by the act. What an Irony? Not only that, the NNPC expends and utilises public funds, hence it inevitably and wholly qualifies to obey the FOI act.
Also, it is interesting that Baru's NNPC did not read Section 2 subsections E (I),(II),(III) which states that all files containing contracts, permits, grants, licenses, agreements reports and documents all qualify as public information under the FOI act. Going by all these, My concern is how do you represent the government and yet hide trade secrets, non-disclosure agreement and third parties on transactions you did on behalf of the state. Is NNPC now a private enterprise? As the former minister Oby Ezekwesili puts, is the NNPC another Federal republic?
Is Baru even aware that the staff of a company or organisation where government owns controlling shares or interest is clearly a public servant as stated by the 1999 constitution ? Is Baru aware that in some of Nigeria's ministries, suppression of records is the second most grievous act of misconduct you can commit?
It is a global concern that a ministry where the president is the minister for Petroleum works in so thick opacity that the government cannot be asked about her deals and transactions done on behalf of the public. All the achievements with the Nigeria's extractive industries' accountability has now been trashed by this government.
You know there are evils done in Nigeria because crook is so rest assured that the victim will never get justice until 2064. So why worry? The administration of the federal republic of Nigeria particularly the NNPC is definitely run by a cabal that hijacked power. I think the extractive industry is trapped and there is nothing anybody can do about it until elections next year.
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