Business
NNPC Denies Funding 2019 Elections With Oil Traders’ Bribes
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reacted to an allegation that fees that trading firms paid agents to win oil contracts from the corporation might have raised funds for the country’s past two elections.
Nigeria’s past two general elections held in 2015 and 2019.
The contest for the presidential seat was mainly between ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, while it was between Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in 2019.
Buhari was declared winner in the two elections.
Citing lawsuits in London and New York, Bloomberg had reported last Friday that an ex-BP Plc oil trader alleged that cargo allocations by the NNPC could have contributed to preparations for general elections in 2019.
The report said a former Glencore Plc employee in July admitted paying a middleman $300,000 to secure a crude shipment from the NNPC, understanding the money would be spent on the nationwide election that took place four years earlier.
The NNPC, through its Direct Sale of Crude Oil and Direct Purchase of Petroleum Product scheme, awards contracts that allow companies, including international trading houses and indigenous firms, to lift crude oil in return for the delivery and supply of petroleum products. The contracts are usually for one year.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr Garba-Deen Muhammad, has, however, refuted the allegation.
“[It’s] not true, and I think that is obvious if you read the story with an open mind,” he said via a text message to a national daily.
Jonathan Zarembok, who left BP’s West Africa desk last year, was quoted as saying in the suit that he suspected that fees paid by the United Kingdom energy giant to obtain NNPC contracts would go toward the 2019 elections.
He filed an employment claim against BP, alleging that he was fired for raising concerns about the large sums being transferred to intermediaries to win business in Nigeria.
Zarembok was quoted as saying in a witness statement made public this month that emails sent in 2017 by a BP executive in Nigeria were a “clear red flag” and implied “there would be pressure to pay bribes”.
According to Bloomberg, the emails discussed how preparations for elections would get underway in 2018.
“We understand what that means,” the executive wrote.
He said the company then wired $900,000 in fees to a local agent after securing two oil cargoes from NNPC.
“BP is defending in full and denies all allegations made by the claimant,” Bloomberg quoted the company as saying in a statement.
It said BP declined further comment while Zarembok’s case at a London employment tribunal continues.
The report noted that similar details emerged two months ago, when Anthony Stimler, who left Glencore in 2019, pleaded guilty to corruption and money-laundering charges.
It said Stimler was notified in September 2014 that “Foreign Official 1” was asking all NNPC clients to pay an advance on each cargo “in connection with a then-upcoming political election,” according to US court filings.
He then had Glencore wire $300,000 to an intermediary company, which prosecutors said was used “to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.”
US prosecutors outlined how Stimler and others paid bribes worth millions of dollars in several countries, including to NNPC officials, between 2007 and 2018, according to the report.
The initiative also announced plans to mobilise five million votes for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in the 2027 general elections, leveraging its youth networks, agricultural training programmes, and grassroots mobilisation platforms.
The SOBAI National Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Bidi, disclosed this at the group’s training and induction ceremony held in Abuja. He noted that while 1,121 candidates registered for the programme, 837 completed the training and are currently awaiting empowerment support to establish their agribusinesses.
Mr. Bidi explained that the initiative was designed to go beyond skills acquisition by equipping young Nigerians with the requisite knowledge and resources to establish sustainable enterprises, create jobs, and contribute to national food production.
He revealed that SOBAI, in partnership with Praise Agrovet, has trained and empowered 64,734 youths since its inception across the FCT, Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi, Benue, and Kano states.
According to him, the beneficiaries received training across various agricultural value chains, including poultry production, fish farming, and goat rearing, aimed at making agriculture an attractive and profitable venture for youth.
Bidi said the initiative plans to establish and activate 34 agricultural training centres nationwide, with programmes to be accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), as part of its broader ambition to reach 20 million Nigerian youths by 2030.
He added that SOBAI intends to sustain free quarterly agricultural training programmes across the country and establish branded farms in all 36 states of the federation.
The proposed farms, he said, will serve as research, training, and industrial attachment centres, providing practical opportunities for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The National Coordinator also stressed the importance of quality animal feed, veterinary products, and competent personnel in improving livestock health, enhancing farm productivity, and ensuring sustainable growth across the agricultural sector.
On its political engagement, Mr. Bidi stated that SOBAI is targeting five million votes for President Tinubu in 2027, noting that the organisation will collaborate with the City Boy Movement and other support groups to expand its advocacy and grassroots outreach.
He clarified, however, that the five-million-vote projection is a mobilisation target rather than a guaranteed electoral outcome, emphasising that voting remains the personal choice of eligible citizens.
Mr. Bidi maintained that the initiative’s empowerment programmes and political engagements will be conducted in strict compliance with applicable laws, adding that transparency, effective implementation, and strategic partnerships remain vital to achieving its objectives.
He urged government agencies, private-sector investors, community leaders, and youth organisations to support agricultural education and entrepreneurship, calling on young Nigerians to embrace farming as a sustainable pathway to wealth creation and national development.
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