Jonathan sacks NNPC director, appoints five new GEDs.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday sacked the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Abiye Membere, and appointed five new ones to fill existing vacancies.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the new appointees and their portfolios are Mr. Ian Udoh, Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals; Dr. Dan Efebo, Group Executive Director, Corporate Services; and Ms. Aisha Abdurrahman, Group Executive Director, Business Development.

Others are Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technical; and Dr. Joseph Dawha, Acting Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production.

Abati said the appointments took immediate effect.

Among the GEDs, the one in charge of the Exploration and Production is one of the most influential in the hierarchy of the NNPC because the department is responsible for producing the crude oil that is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.

It was gathered that some of the old GEDs had retired from the corporation without the government filling their positions, while some served in acting capacities.

For instance, the former GED, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Anthony Ogbuigwe, and GED, Business Development, Mr. Aminu Babakusa, were said to have retired from the services of the NNPC.

The former acting GEDs, Corporate Services and Engineering and Technical were replaced with substantive directors.

Those that retained their portfolios are the GEDs, Commerce and Investment, Dr. Attahir Yusuf; Finance and Accounts, Mr. Bernard Otti; Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige; and Comapny Secretary/Legal Adviser, Anthony Madichie.

Udoh, according to the statement, is a native of Akwa Ibom State and has been the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited since November 2012.

He has considerable experience of managing the nation’s refineries, having previously held the position of Executive Director, Operations, at both the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited and the PHRPC.

In addition, Udoh had previously served as a general manager in the Refining and Petrochemicals Directorate of NNPC.

Efebo, who hails from Bayelsa State, was until the latest appointment the Group General Manager in charge of the NNPC’s Human Resources Division. He was previously General Manager, Human Resources, Brass LNG.

Abdurrahman is a native of Kogi State and was the Managing Director, Nikorma, NNPC’s shipping subsidiary.

She also served as Managing Director of Hyson, an NNPC trading subsidiary; and as Executive Director (Services), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company.

Ibirogba, a chemical engineer, until now was the Group General Manager, Engineering, NNPC’s Engineering and Technology Directorate, and hails from Ogun State.

He served at various times as General Manager (New Business), General Manager (Gas Development), and Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries.

In 2010, Ibirogba became the first African to be elected to the Board of Directors of the World LP Gas Association.

Dawha, who replaces Membere as Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, was previously the Managing Director of Integrated Data Services Limited.

He is an indigene of Borno State and has served the corporation over the years in various capacities in the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, Mr. Babs Omotowa, on Wednesday said the firm paid N220bn as tax on its operational profit in 2013.

According to him, the firm prides itself as the biggest tax payer and gas income earner in the country.

Omotowa said this in Abuja at the inauguration of the company’s university support programme.

“Our corporate income tax will exceed N220bn per annum, which is by far the highest in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

He added that the NLNG had also commercialised over four trillion cubic feet of natural gas to lead the country’s aspiration for flare reduction at oil production sites.

FRAUD: EFCC arrests man for cloning Fashola’s wife, Okonjo-Iweala’s Facebook accounts

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested a Lagos State University graduate for cloning the Facebook accounts of prominent Nigerians and using same to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.

Before his arrest, yesterday, Anthony Ezechukwu, 38, had successfully used the names of Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala;  wives of Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola, Federal Capital Territory Minister, Aisha Bala Mohammed and the Director of the Abuja Geographical Information Systems, AGIS, Jamilah Tangaza to transact his illegal business and smile to the bank.

According to EFCC, Ezechukwu went on to solicit for various forms of business and assistance that fetched him hundreds of thousands of Naira after cloning the accounts of the prominent Nigerians.

Findings showed that in each of the instances, Ezechukwu devised clever baits to lure his victims. Once he successfully opened a Facebook account with the false identity of a Mrs. Fashola, he began to send out messages soliciting for friendship, which yielded enormous responses from innocent respondents, who wanted to seize the moment to be friend to the Lagos First Lady.

But on noticing the stream of friends on the Facebook, the suspect started directing them to ‘her personal assistant’, who in turn demanded for various sums of money from them to connect them with influential people in government and the society.

Also, in the account he opened using the name and photograph of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ezechukwu claimed that he had job offers and directed interested job seekers to ‘her schedule officer’ (he also doubles as schedule officer) who in turn asked them to make payments into a designated bank account.

How he met his waterloo

But Ezechhukwu met his waterloo when he cloned the Facebook account of Jamilah Tangaza, the current AGIS Director, who is an ICT expert and had served as media director to the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed before her recent appointment.

With his address as http://www.facebook.com/agis.jamilahtangaza.9, Ezechukwu set about exploiting the office of the influential AGIS boss to have his cut of the lucrative apple that is Abuja property sector.

His bait came in the form of a message: “In my certified, endorsed and approved capacity, as the Director General of Abuja Geographical Information System, AGIS, officially appointed by FCT minister (Senator Bala Mohammed) and his administration on presidency acceptance and approvals (sic) to take control of all lands and houses sales (sic) in FCT Abuja.

“Then I warned, using this medium to advised (sic) the general public those who wish to buy land and houses in FCT Abuja to channel all the inquiries, consultation and payment to me…”

The poorly constructed message notwithstanding, some persons who are desperate to own land or houses in the FCT fell for it and began to wire money into his account.

The Facebook account he opened in the name of the wife of the FCT minister, Aisha Muhammed, turned out to be very rewarding.

In a post on the account, he claimed that the FCT had soft loan worth N10 million for disbursement to individuals but offered forms to interested persons at the rate of N100, 000.

Unknown to the public that it was a scam, a certain Usman Ahmed paid N100, 000 into a designed account with a new generation bank.

Ezechukwu was, however, nabbed following a complaint by Tangaza. He is currently assisting investigators probing the scam and will be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is concluded

In a statement in Abuja, yesterday, the Acting Head of Media for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, warned members of the public to be wary of relationships in the social media that come with solicitations of any kind, and to be circumspect in responding to gratuitous offers that look too good to be true.