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"According to official figures, the leading oil producing state, Rivers, received N1,053 billion
between 1999 and 2008 in federal allocations. By contrast the North-eastern states of Yobe and
Borno, where the Boko Haram sect was created, received N175bn and N213bn respectively.
Broken down on a per capita basis, the contrast is even starker. In 2008 the 18.97m people
who lived in the six states in the north-east received on average N1,156 per person.
"By contrast Rivers state was allocated N3,965 per capita, and on average the oil producing
South- South region received on average N3,332 per capita. This imbalance is compounded
when the cost of an amnesty programme for militants in the delta is included together with an
additional 1 per cent for a special development body for the Niger Delta. To boot, the theft of oil
by profiteers in the region diverts tens of millions more weekly from federal coffers." – Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi.
Yes, forget these per capita figures! I agree the North is poor. Yes, I agree the poverty has bred
millions of destitutes, who have become instant and easy recruits for Boko Haram. But my
question is: Who impoverished the North?
A caveat: I am an unabashed capitalist who believes that every citizen has a right to do good
business and make profit. I salute hard work and do not disparage honest efforts. However,
uncompassionate capitalism driven by pulleys of aristocracy breeds a brutal class order worthy
of condemnation.
In my last article titled – “Elrufai’s amnesia: The day Boko Haram Wore Jeans”, I categorically
stated that greed and the senseless chase for power by the Fulani aristocrats and political elites
of the North are responsible for the extreme poverty of the North. I still and will always stand by
that. My position did not go down well with my targets; they responded with vituperations.
Mallam Sanusi’s statistics was intended to mislead us by ruffling the rudder of our common
sense. See, Ekiti state has a 2012 budget 0f N88 billion; Kwara state, N90 billion; Cross River
state, N144 billion; Anambra state, N82 billion; Enugu state, N74 billion. Now let’s look at the
2012 budgets recently passed into law by the four major Boko Haram occupied states – Kano
state has a budget of N 210 billion; Borno state, 150 billion; Gombe, N94 billion; Yobe state, 80
billion.
A simple comparative analysis shows that Ekiti state has about the same revenue as Yobe and
Gombe, but only 17 students passed WAEC and NECO in Gombe state last year, while Ekiti is
known for its high literacy level. Gombe state has a bigger budget that Enugu and Anambra,
why hasn’t MASSOB bombed anyone. Borno state has a budget twice that of Enugu state but
the poverty and unemployment level in Borno state is more than thrice that of Enugu state.
Borno has a bigger budget than a Niger Delta state- Cross River, while the leaders of that state
over the last decade have transformed it into the Nation’s leading tourist destination; those of
Borno have transformed it into a Somalia.
Kano state gets the highest statutory allocation from the FG, because on paper Kano is the
most populated state in Nigeria, yet Kano has about 1.6 million destitute Almajiris. Kano has a
budget almost thrice the budget of Enugu, twice the budget of Kwara, Anambra and Ekiti, but
how come almost 90% of students in Kano fail WAEC? How come the poverty level in Kano is
higher than all these states put together?
Why is the North so poor? From the figures above I have shown that Southern states with
lesser budgets have shown better development performance than most North Eastern states
with bigger statutory allocation and budgets.
Now, I need to tackle the sensitive question of revenue allocation that has infuriated the Mallam
Lamido Sanusi and Mallam Elrufai and their likes. Niger Delta states get higher revenue
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allocation because they contribute virtually all the eggs in the national crate. That is expected.
Albeit the 13% remains grossly inadequate, the CBN Governor has suggested that his Boko
boys are resisting the disparity.
I want to posit that the North-East through their aristocrats and ex-military rulers (except Gen.
Mohammed Buhari) rake in more oil money (from the Niger Delta) individually than any Niger
Delta state, and collectively more than twice the entire Niger Delta put together. In this
disquisition, I have attempted to show that 80% of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous
companies is controlled by the North-East. It is an area they have well conquered through
General IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalami. However, the loots never get back home.
In this first part I will attempt to describe the very uneven nature of the distribution of the nation’s
wealth among the Northern aristocratic families and their military generals who for decades
looted Nigeria. They did so blatantly, and while Nigeria was weeping about oil windfall loot and
others, Nigerians would wail if they know how much of the nation’s resources these folks
allocated to themselves and their business fronts before they stepped aside.
Let us therefore begin.
To the state of origin of Boko Haram: Borno State. Enter Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of
OML 110 – with good yielding OBE field. This oil block was awarded to Alhaji Mai Deribe - the
Borno patriarch, who even in death will remain the richest man dead or alive in the history of
Borno state- by General Sani Abacha on the 8th of July, 1996. OML 110 has a proven oil
reserve in excess of 500 million barrels (More than the entire 300milliom barrels reserve of
Sudan). As yet with the capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its
OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells. At current production levels, the Mai Deribes net circa N4billion
monthly in crude oil sales (Using current oil price of $100pb). Cavendish Petroleum’s N4bn
monthly net dwarfs the monthly statutory allocation of Borno which is about N3bn and its
internally generated revenue staggers around N1billion.
See his mansion, a tourist attraction - http://kyata.aminus3.com/image/2009-08-17.html
I will then shift to the centre of the Fulani aristocratic hegemony in the North East – Kano. Here.
Enter the Fulani Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, Mallam (Prince) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s cousin. He
is a Key shareholder and director in Seplat/Platform petroleum operators of the Asuokpu/Umutu
Marginal Field with a capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly and A 30mmfcsd gas plant capable of
feeding 100MT of LPG. The Ado Bayeros, Yar’Aduas and Atiku Abubakar are Nigerian holders
of Intels. It is a private port that has grounded three Federal ports in the South. Intels is
discussed later.
Enter South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO). South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a
Nigerian Oil Exploration and Production Company that was created in 1995 by General T. Y.
Danjuma. General Sani Abacha awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO
in February 1998.
The block covers a total area of 2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles). SAPETRO partnered with Total
Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd (Petrobras) to
start prospecting on OPL246. Akpo, a condensate field was discovered in April 2000 with the
drilling of the first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other discoveries made on OPL 246
include the Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was suspended as a dry
gas/minor oil discovery).
In June 2006, General TY Danjuma divested part of its contractor rights and obligations to
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for $1 billion (N160bn). Akpo exports about
230,000 barrels of condensate daily. Condensate export is not regulated by OPEC, so
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SAPETRO/TOTAL exports as much as possible each day. Egina exports about 75,000 barrels
of oil daily.
Therefore, Akpo and Egina fields export just over 300,000 barrels of oil/condensate daily (three
times what the country Ghana exports). SAPETRO (TY Danjuma) get 25% of this. Now, note I
have not talked about the gas component – it’s about 2.5 trillion cubic feet. The money
SAPETRO nets each month is more than the monthly statutory allocation of all the Niger states
combined and also more than the oil revenue of Ghana. Do your math.
Enter AMNI (or is it AMIN?) International Petroleum Development Company. AMNI owns two oil
blocks – OML 112 and OML 117. In the production sharing contract, AMNI gets 60% for owning
the oil block and Total gets 40% for providing technical advice. OML 112 was awarded on the
12/02/1998 while OML 117 was awarded 06/08/1999 all by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Operations started on both blocks 0n 26/02/2006. The licenses are due to expire 11/02/2018
and 05/08/2019 respectively. (Now you see why the next election is important?).
The Okoro and Setu fields in OML 112 are operated by Afren Energy, a company substantially
controlled by Rilwanu Lukman. The Okoro and Setu oil fields have about 50 million barrels in
reserve and currently produce/exports just a little below 20,000 barrels per day. The chairman
of AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company is Alhaji (Colonel) Sani Bello a
Fulani from Kontagora, Niger State. Lest I forget, Alhaji Bello’s son- Abu, is married to General
Abdusalami Abubakar's eldest daughter.
Enter Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company owned by Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, a
Fulani and close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida. Also worthy of note is that General IBB’s
first son is married to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi’s daughter – Yakolo Indimi-Babangida, who also
serves as a director in the company. Alhaji Indimi hails from Niger State.
Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the
Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwo are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them crown
offshore oil blocks. OML 115 on its own is 228 sqKm. On OML115 Oriental Energy Resources
Limited has 60 per cent while Equity Energy Resources AS, which Alhjai Aliko Dangote’s oil and
gas investment vehicle has 40 per cent (Aliko Dangote is from Kano). On Okwok, Addax has
40% and on the Ebok field, Oriental Energy Resources shares with none: its 100%. AMNI
produces twice as much as Cavendish Petroleum.
Enter Express Petroleum and Gas Limited floated by Alhaji Aminu Dantata, solely for the
purpose of fronting for winning oil block(s) even though he and the company are in no way
qualified for the award. General Abacha awarded him OML 108 on the 1st of November, 1995.
CAMAC Houston, a company owned by Kase Lawal bought 2.5% of Express Petroleum’s 60%
holdings. The other 40% on OML 108 is owned Sheba E&P Limited an IBB tributary company.
SEPCOL operates the Ukpokiti offshore field in Shallow water Nigeria, which was acquired from
ConocoPhillips in May 2004.
Enter Shebah Exploration And Production Limited (SEPCOL) . It is the operator of the Oil
Mining License 108 offshore Nigeria. Head office is in Lagos, but ‘head quartered’ in Minna.
Enter Consolidated Oil. Conoil Producing Limited is an integrated upstream oil and gas
company. They are the operator of six blocks in the Niger Delta as well as 25% Equity holder in
the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) Block 4. Corporate Head office is in Lagos, but its
‘Headquarters’ is in Minna, Niger State.
Conoil signed a technical operator agreement with Continental Oil and Gas Limited (CONOG) to
provide 100% funding and technical service agreement to operate blocks OML 59 on a 40%
(Conoil) / 60% (CONOG) basis. Conoil entered into a Production Sharing Contract with the
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NNPC by virtue of an agreement executed on 17th October 2008.
Conoil’s has overall potential hydrocarbon resources of over 1.0 Billion Barrels of Oil and 7.0
Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas. General Ibrahim Babangida awarded the first oil block to Conoil in
1991. The company produces about 100,000 barrels per day.
Enter Rilwanu Lukman, another Fulani multimillionaire with fronted controlling holdings in Afren,
the operators of AMNI oil blocks and also with very key interest in the NNPC/Vitol trading deal,
Vitol is a London based oil trading company. Vitol lifts 350,000 barrels of crude oil daily from
Nigeria.
Enter Intels and the Yar’Adua , Ado Bayero family and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. The Oil and Gas
Free Zone and Oil Services Centres, as well as Support Bases, are operated from
government-owned facilities, leased to Intels under long-term agreements. Intels runs a ‘private
port’, a venture that has systematically killed the Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports. There
are over one hundred major companies operating at the Intel facility in Port Harcourt. The
company makes more money in profit than the government of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states
put together. I shall give details and figures in the part two of this disquisition.
Finally, for the Part I of this disquisition, I introduce you to NorthEast Petroleum. The name is as
clear as the message it sends. I do not need to write so much about NorthEast Petroleum
registered as NorEast. NorthEast Petroleum Nigeria Limited is the holder of OPL215 license,
covering an area 0f 2,564 square kilometres in water depths between 200 to 1600 metres.
NorEast is the parent company of Rayflosh Petroleum Nigeria which got the 2005 bidding round
and was awarded the blocks OPLs 276 & 283 closing thereupon a Joint Venture Agreement
with Centrica Resources Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and Gas.
Not surprising, NorthEast Petroleum is owned by another Fulani businessman from the North
East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo. The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim
Badamosi Babangida in 1991 and then renewed in 2004. So far $50Million has been spent on
the very promising Okpoi-1 and Egere -1 exploratory well.
In the Part II, we shall finish the discussion. We will table other North Eastern billionaires who
make more money than their states of origin from Niger Delta oil blocks.
With all these oil blocks owned by ‘North- Easterners’ in the Niger Delta, it should be clear to
Elrufai and Sanusi who really benefits from the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme.
Sadly, National Bureau of Statistics reports from 2010 show Niger State as the poorest state in
the Federation, and the North East the poorest region.
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/35947-nigerias-poverty-level-rises-hits-715-sok
oto-niger-top-list-of-poorest-states.
With these figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, I rest my case.-------------
Ross Alabo-George can be reached at imaginasion@gmail.com
The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. Let us
reason together.
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With poverty rate at 93 percent in Nigeria, why focus on the "North"?
Nigeria is phocking poor! Period!

Lasinoh: With poverty rate at 93 percent in Nigeria, why focus on the "North"?
Nigeria is phocking poor! Period!

The North is poorer, agree?