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Exposed! How APC Chieftain, Etiebet’s 2016 letter gave new clues to alleged N2.4bn debt to Access Bank

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Exposed! How APC Chieftain, Etiebet’s 2016 letter gave new clues to alleged N2.4bn debt to Access Bank

Exposed! How APC Chieftain, Etiebet’s 2016 letter gave new clues to alleged N2.4bn debt to Access Bank

In a letter dated November 9, 2016 written by former petroleum minister and All Progressive Congress (APC) chieftain, Don Etiebet, in respect of what is turning out to be a messy N2.4 billion indebtedness by an oil and gas company, Top Oil, to Access Bank plc, appears to offer a new narrative to the dispute.

Writing in his capacity as chairman of Top Oil and Gas Company Limited, the letter shows an admission by Etiebet of the indebtedness and profused pleading for time to resolve the matter with the principal parties, CASTOIL that appear to have brought the business from Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited, for which Top Oil was hoping to profit from as a third party participant.

However, the Etiebet letter seen by Business A.M. among the documents making the court rounds, also shows while CASTOIL had the direct supply business with Mobil Oil, Top Oil made have found the business very attractive as to take full responsibility of sourcing the funds, hence the Import Finance Facility (IFF) made available to it by the bank for the purpose of importation of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) for supply to Mobil.

In the letter addressed to “The Manager, Access Bank Plc, Business Banking Division, Chevron Roundabout Branch, Lekki” with the heading, “RE: US$6.3 MILLION OUTSTANDING L/C PAYMENT”,Etiebet refers to the ‘demands’ by the manager for the payment of an outstanding letter of credit (LC) of US$6,382,666.00, “which was used to import 10,000MT of AGO to supply Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited from Augusta Energy.”

In what appears to suggest an apology over the situation, Etiebet then wrote: “I regret that this payment is still outstanding till today. The true and correct position is that Top Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (TOPOIL) carried out this contract with a third party, CAST OIL and GAS LIMITED (CASTOIL) which brought the project from Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited. TOPOIL did not deal directly with Mobil Oil as it is common practice in the industry that companies cooperate to execute project of this nature and share the profit,”Etiebet wrote.

He went on to explain that after an initial payment made by the third party, CASTOIL, the latter failed to make further payment, suggesting this to be the reason for the delay and failure to redeem the letter of credit sum.

“Unfortunately, after the initial payment of N170,000,000.00 from CASTOIL into TOPOIL account with Access Bank Plc in August 2015 as agreed, CASTOIL failed to make further payments. CASTOIL then request (sic) TOPOIL to give it sometime to reconcile certain issues with Mobil Oil and in the process issued TOPOIL a “PAYMENT COMMITMENT” in the sum of N1,321,431,000.00, which is what CASTOIL owed TOPOIL for the L/C at N200/$ at that time plus other costs and to pay up in three instalments by the 31st of August 2015 as per attached CASTOIL letter,” Etiebet, in the letter, also referred to how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had become involved, expressing confidence that the money would be paid to TOP OIL for it to settle Access Bank, what it owes it.

The letter further reads: “When the commitment was not honoured, TOPOIL reported the case to the security agencies. In the process of the investigations, CASTOIL entered into another agreement with TOPOIL to pay up by the end of November 2015, with understanding to pay interests and any forex variation from N200/$ to the fx rate at the time of completion of payment. The case is being handled by the EFCC with CASTOIL’s Managing Director, Mr.TunjiAmushan being on Administrative Bail with sureties and his International Passport impounded as he reports to the EFCC every Thursday with promises to pay up. EFFCC has assured us that they would recover all the money plus interest and FX variation from him before long plus other sanctions.”

The letter showed that apparently while TOPOIL was trying to resolve whatever difficulties it was having with CASTOIL over the payment it did not inform or carry along its bankers.

In further demonstration of remorse, therefore, Etiebet then stated in the letter: “I am very sorry that this was not reported to you before now because we thought CASTOIL would pay up as has been promised since last year for us to liquidate the outstanding L/C payment. So I take this opportunity to commit to you that the debts of US$6,382,666 to your bank shall, meanwhile, be paid from alternative sources including profits TOPOIL would be making from its current contracts with NNPC-Retail to supply AGO to Total-Offshore. “With other contracts in the pipeline including the supply of PMS to NNPC-Retail, I hereby give my personal undertaking to pay all the outstanding in the US$6,382,666 within 90 days. I want to let you know that we all in TOPOIL regret this unfortunate situation but thank you so much for your continued understanding and cooperation,” Etiebet concluded his rapprochement to the bank.

Sources close to the situation said nothing came out of the promises made in this 2016 letter as the bank did not receive any payment. The bitter contestation of the indebtedness that is currently going on would shades this profound apologetic and hugely conciliatory position in this letter and raises questions about how things got to this point and what, if any, could be the underlying motive behind a complete repudiation of the debt that in this November 9, 2016 letter was fully admitted. In an advertorial widely published in the media, Obodex Nigeria Limited, a company in which Etiebet has large interest and is chairman, claims that it does not owe any debt to Access Bank, a claim which seems to contradict the November 9, 2016 letter.

FACT SHEET TO POINT OF DISAGREEMENT

  • On November 21, 2014, Access Bank, following an accepted offer letter to the TOPOIL provides a US$6 million Import Finance Facility (IFF) to facilitate the importation of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) for supply to Mobil Producing Unlimited by TOPOIL. The facility was tenured for a year with a maximum of 90 (ninety) days circle. In addition to the US$6 million IFF, TOPOIL was also availed a N100 million Revolving Time Loan vide the same offer letter for the purpose of facilitating the payment of Custom duties and other related Logistics.
  • This was also tenured for 1 (one) year with a maximum of 90 (ninety) days circle. Several Letters of Credit (LCs) were issued on the facilities, but only 1 (one) remained unpaid which is A2015C1091CL. The facts on the stated LC are stated below: In April 2015 TOPOIL submitted a Proforma Invoice valued at $5,802,500.00 and informed Access Bank it had an order from Mobil. Consequently, LC A2015C1091CL was issued in favour of a company called Augusta Energy SA (“Beneficiary”).
  • Upon presentation of all shipping documents required for this particular LC, funds were remitted by the bank to the beneficiary. In 2016, Access Bank increased the TOPOIL’s IFF from US$6 million to US$12 million and this was communicated to TOPOIL in an offer letter dated January 20, 2016. When the facility was not paid, the chairman of TOPOIL, Don Etiebet wrote to Access Bank in a letter dated November 9, 2016 that the LC was done with a third party known as Cast Oil & Gas Limited and committed to repay the Customer’s indebtedness.
  • Due to TOPOIL’s failure to repay the sum of US$6,382,665.71 at the expiration of the facility, the said amount was converted into a N2.2 billion Term Loan through an offer letter dated July 4, 2017 and the unutilized sum of US$5,617,334.29 on the US$12million IFF was also converted to a N1,463,000.000.00 Time Loan through the same offer letter. The N1,463,000.000.00 Time Loan was, however, never utilised by the TOPOIL.



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ZENITH BANK REWARDS HACKATHON WINNERS WITH N77.5M CASH PRIZE AT ZENITH TECH FAIR 4.0

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ZENITH BANK REWARDS HACKATHON WINNERS WITH N77.5M CASH PRIZE AT ZENITH TECH FAIR 4.0

 

A total sum of N77.5 million in prize money was won at the end of a keenly contested hackathon session at the Fourth Edition of the Zenith Tech Fair, themed “Future Forward 4.0: Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity & Growth Imperatives – The Impact of AI “, which held on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The prize money was shared among ten finalists who emerged from the over 1,700 contestants that took part in the hackathon, with JumpnPass, a self-checkout technology solution reshaping the retail landscape in Africa emerging as the overall winner and taking home the grand prize of N25 million. This is in addition to a six-week mentorship and incubation program designed to help them grow and scale effectively, which will run from December 2024 to February 2025.

The first runner-up, CreditChek, a credit and verification service provider which leverages AI and open banking to streamline income and credit history verification for financial institutions, won N20 million and a mentorship programme, while the second runner-up, Salad Africa, a start-up which offers seamless integration of credit products for digital platforms and software companies won N15 million as well as a mentorship programme. Other finalists who took home N2.5million each include Regxta, CashAfrica, Middleman, Messenger, Pocketfood, Famasi Africa, Kitovu.

Earlier during the programme, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, OON, in her welcome address expressed her appreciation to the Founder & Chairman, Dr Jim Ovia, CFR, for birthing the idea that led to the establishment of the Tech Fair initiative 5 years ago, she thanked him for his vision and foresight in utilizing technology to revolutionize the world of business and banking.

Commenting on the Hackathon, she said, “This prestigious annual event was created to empower and nurture young fertile minds. We hope to produce the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk from the Zenith Bank Hackathons in the nearest future. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 70% of Nigeria’s population are youths which is an economic asset when properly harnessed. This is part of the reason why Zenith Bank is hosting this event to support the development of technology startups. Their success not only fosters innovation and growth in Nigeria, but it also plays a vital role in creating employment opportunities for our youth.” She also stressed on the importance of innovation and embedded finance in ensuring strong and enduring institutions. According to her, “it is paramount that we adapt and adopt technology to stay ahead of the curve. We have seen various cases of companies that failed because of their lack of innovation. It is quite obvious that when companies fail to innovate; they can easily be displaced, so this is not the time to be orthodox, innovation should be a top priority for us.”

In his goodwill message, The Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu called for a global approach to doing business in the country. According to him, “What we need to do is to be able to enhance our product and services in order to compete in the world. We can’t continue to act local, we need to think global. Anything that we’re doing now, we need to be able to know that we are not just serving a local market, we actually want to serve the global market, and that’s why I’m glad that consistently, for the past four years, I have kept up with the Zenith Tech Fair. I am sure 5.0 should be bigger and better than what we have today, but for us as a government, what we need to do is to continue to use platforms like this to reassure you of our readiness to provide an enabling environment for your ideas and innovative solutions.”

Described as a huge success by participants, the Fair featured the launch of the bank’s digital wallet, EazyByZenith, which will help to support the bank’s retail and financial inclusion strategy. The fair also included presentations on the leading technological innovations that cut across different aspects of life, such as Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Compliance, Financial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Communication Technologies, with the keynote address, “Banking Transformation in a Digital World”, delivered by Robin Speculand, a renowned Strategy & Digital Implementation Specialist.

The event also featured goodwill messages by Jim Ovia, CFR, Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank; His Excellency, Hon. Kashim Shettima, GCON, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (represented by Dr. Tope Fasua, Special Adviser to the Presidency on Economic Matters). Other eminent IT practitioners from top global brands who also made presentations include; Robin Speculand, renowned Strategy & Digital Implementation Specialist; Danilo McGarry, Global Expert on Digital Transformation and AI; Jania Okwechime, Partner, Africa, AI & Data Leader, Deloitte; Rupert Nicolay, Director, Microsoft Worldwide Financial Services.

The panel session had Wole Odeyele, Client Technology Lead for Microsoft Inc. as its host, and featured six discussants including Ada Jabaru, Founder & Director, Nistad Limited; Funke Opeke, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MainOne; Guy Futi, Chief Executive Officer, Orda; Dr Auwal Adam Sa’ad, Founder, ZamzamPay; Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and Engr. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, Director General/Chief Executive Officer, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

The Zenith Bank startup pitch competition and incubation program seeks to identify and fast-track the growth of high-potential Nigerian startups innovating in key sectors, including Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity, Fintech, HealthTech, Agritech, E-commerce, and more. The program provides an ideal platform for startups to showcase their groundbreaking ideas and gain access to invaluable resources to scale their businesses.

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NEW BPP DG COMMITS TO EFFICIENCY AND STAFF WELFARE FOR IMPACTFUL SERVICE DELIVERY

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NEW BPP DG COMMITS TO EFFICIENCY AND STAFF WELFARE FOR IMPACTFUL SERVICE DELIVERY*

*_…begins review of bureau processes to enhance government procurement systems_*

The Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr Adebowale Adedokun, has outlined his vision to drive efficiency, enhance staff welfare, and reinforce the Bureau’s regulatory mandate in alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope mandate and his commitment to improving Nigeria’s economy. This was made known during an interactive session with staff of the Bureau at the State House Banquet Hall on November 20, 2024. Dr Adedokun emphasised the urgency of delivering results as well as improving trust in the government procurement system to support President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, declaring, “Let us work together to get value for money for Nigeria’s developmental processes and achieve President Tinubu’s mandate of making Nigeria’s economy better.”

Furthermore, in a bid to strengthen operational efficiency, the DG also announced key reforms, including introducing Service Level Agreements for the bureau’s processes ensuring that letters are treated within 3 (three) days, and ensuring reports are completed within 14 (fourteen) days. He also highlighted plans to secure a sustainable budget that would improve the working environment and provide better welfare for staff.

Dr Adedokun firmly stated the Bureau’s resolve to uphold its regulatory integrity under his watch. He warned that officers are prohibited from visiting Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) unless on official assignments stressing the need for officers of the Bureau to stay above board. He further declared that contractors are no longer allowed within the Bureau’s premises to ensure that officers can perform their duties without undue interference and influence.

Calling for a collaborative approach, the DG urged staff to embody the Bureau’s regulatory values by adhering to procurement guidelines, avoiding delays, and striving for excellence. “As a regulator, you must be seen to be guided by the procurement process,” he stated. He assured the team of an open-door policy, encouraging innovative ideas that could propel the Bureau to greater heights.

The session also featured a visit from former DG, Engr. Emeka Ezeh, OFR, FNSE, who led the Bureau from 2009 to 2016. Engr. Ezeh commended President Tinubu for appointing Dr Adedokun and urged staff to provide their full support to the new leadership. He encouraged staff to focus on leaving a legacy of excellence, saying, “Work in a way that you will be celebrated wherever you go in life.”

Senior Directors, including Engr. Nasir Bello and Engr. Isaiah Yesufu reiterated the importance of supporting the DG’s vision while emphasizing adherence to the Bureau’s operational guidelines. Staff also welcomed the session, sharing their perspectives on improving the Bureau’s operations and pledging their support for the new leadership.

In a related development, Dr Adedokun sought collaboration with the Presidential Office of Digital Engagement and Strategy (PODES) led by its Head, Mr O’tega Ogra, who is also the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital/New Media, during a courtesy visit to his office on November 21, 2024. The DG emphasized the need to enhance the Bureau’s public engagement and visibility in line with the all-of-government communications approach being espoused by the PODES.

Mr Ogra congratulated Dr Adedokun on his appointment and highlighted the key role BPP plays in advancing Nigeria’s development agenda. O’tega further expressed his commitment to collaborating with the Bureau in amplifying its communication efforts and ensuring Nigerians understand and appreciate its critical role in national governance.

Dr Adedokun’s leadership marks a new chapter for the Bureau of Public Procurement, focused on accountability, efficiency, and impactful service delivery. His vision aligns seamlessly with the Federal Government’s goals of economic transformation and sustainable development as well as President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.

Janet McDickson
Director, Information & Public Relations/Head, Media-BPP

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Abducted Rivers bizman rescued, suspected robber arrested

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Abducted Rivers bizman rescued, suspected robber arrested

 

The Rivers State Police Command said its men rescued a businessman identified as Julius Madabuchi, who was kidnapped by a four-man gang at a filling station in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state.

The police said the man was abducted when the miscreants who were driving in a Black Toyota car stormed the area and started shooting discriminately before executing their plan.

The rescue of the man, the police said, followed a distress call sent to the command control room about the activities of the hoodlums on November 17 and immediately mobilised operatives to the scene, saying the abductors engaged the police in a shootout.

The spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Wednesday.

 

The statement reads, “On the 17th of November, 2014, at about 2023hrs, operatives of the command received a distress call from the Room indicating that a gang of armed men numbering about four operating in a Black colour Toyota Corolla car shot sporadically and kidnapped one Madabuchi Julius at Sabbath Filling Station, Oyigbo.

“Operatives were swiftly mobilised to the scene and the hoodlums on sighting the police operatives drove off, but they were given a hot chase by the operatives and subsequently intercepted along Egbu Street, Oyigbo and a gun duel ensued between the operatives and the hoodlums.

“The hoodlums could not withstand the police’s superior firepower and eventually abandoned the victim and their operational vehicle with registration number RIVERS PHC 938 AH and escaped. The victim was rescued unhurt and the vehicle recovered. He has since reunited with his family.”

 

The state police image maker however said an investigation is ongoing while concerted efforts are being intensified to apprehend other fleeing members of the gang and recover their operational weapons.

In a related development, Iringe-Koko said the following day, precisely on Monday, operatives of the command acted on credible information, coordinated a covert operation at the St Lorinta Street, Oyigbo and arrested one Gabriel Morris, aged 25, at Mercy Ground in Kom-Kom, Oyigbo LGA of the State.

The state police spokesperson stated, “During interrogation, the suspect confessed to being a member of a syndicate that had been terrorising Oyigbo and its environs in recent times.

 

Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, listed items recovered from the suspect including one locally made pistol and a quantity of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp.

She added, “Investigation is ongoing, while concerted efforts are intensified to apprehend other fleeing members of the syndicate.

“This successful operation further demonstrates the effectiveness of the Rivers State Police Command in combating kidnapping and all other forms of crime in the state.”

 

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