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Vice President Namadi Sambo was named as the key facilitator of the scandalous transaction, with Mr. Jonathan going along despite caution from some of his advisers.
Vice President Namadi Sambo was named as the key facilitator of the scandalous transaction, with Mr. Jonathan going along despite caution from some of his advisers.
With a month and a half to go before the formal transfer of power to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, President Goodluck Jonathan and other top officials of his administration are reportedly finalizing a fraudulent transaction that would transfer close to $500 million in government-owned communications assets to OpenSkys Limited, a firm owned by Emeka Offor, the controversial chief executive of the Chrome group of companies. Vice President Namadi Sambo was named as the key facilitator of the scandalous transaction, with Mr. Jonathan going along despite caution from some of his advisers.
An investigation by SaharaReporters revealed that Mr. Offor’s OpenSkys Limited was one of several Nigerian private firms invited to bid for a contract to operate Nigeria’s National Public Security Communications System (NPSCS) network, a sophisticated communications system designed to give the Nigerian police and security agencies a huge boost in battling crimes and terrorism.
Built by a Chinese firm, ZTE Corporation, the NPSCS network is a state-of-the-art communications network designed to enable the Nigerian police and other security agencies to more effectively combat crimes and terrorist activities. The network’s development was initiated by former President Umaru Yar’Adua, and financed with a $399.5 million loan from the China Exim Bank, with the Nigerian government adding $70.5 million.
The network’s technological elements include video surveillance, with more than 2000 cameras already installed, an emergency response, E-policing, and video conferencing.
Once ZTE finished building the network, the Nigerian government invited four Nigerian companies to bid for the role of technical operators to manage the NPSCS network.
Our sources, including two officials of the Jonathan administration and several security operatives, revealed that the process of selecting a Nigerian technical operator of the network has been marked by fraud and a scheme to transfer public assets to a private concern.
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One of our sources revealed that President Jonathan had brushed aside the advice of some principled insiders in his administration who have questioned the legality and morality of doing a shady deal with Mr. Offor’s company. According to the source, Mr. Offor was getting his way because of his well-known business ties with Vice President Namadi Sambo and Secretary to the Federal Government Anyim Pius Anyim and his generous financial dole-outs to First Lady Patience Jonathan. One source also accused Ernest Ndukwe, a former chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) of aiding Mr. Offor’s controversial bid to hijack a network that should long have been activated to assist in Nigeria’s critical war against terrorism.
The private sector operator is expected to enhance the Federal Government’s security capabilities and to help generate revenues to make payments on the $399.5 million loan sourced from China EXIM Bank.
According to our sources, Emeka Offor’s bid to manage the NPSCS network was nothing short of fraudulent from the outset. Mr. Offor’s OpenSkys initially proposed to scrap the NPSCS network, which is already fully built. Instead, he proposed to have his firm build a new network, but using the base station infrastructure of the NPSCS network. Under this arrangement, OpenSkys would begin to sell services to Nigeria’s security agencies in perpetuity.
Some of our sources disclosed that top officials of the Jonathan administration subsequently encouraged Offor’s OpenSkys to submit an amended proposal that one source described as “a criminal hijack operation.” OpenSkys’ amended proposal proposed that the company assume total ownership of the NPSCS network through a joint venture with Nigcomsat, in which Mr. Offor’s firm would be hold a commanding 82% majority stake.
“In simple language, what Sir Emeka Offor is asking for, and Mr. President is trying to approve, is for Offor’s company to hijack a network in which the Nigerian people have invested almost $500 million. And then Offor and his company will turn Nigeria’s security agencies into customers of a network that was originally built for them,” said a source within the Presidency. He added that several advisers had told Mr. Jonathan that the plan would be one of the most brazen cases of diverting public assets to private pockets.
Even so, the source and a few others told SaharaReporters that Mr. Offor’s company’s shady proposal has enjoyed support from key members of the Jonathan administration, including the president. The sources said the motive was that Mr. Sambo and Mr. Anyim as well as Mrs. Jonathan are known to operate as Mr. Offor’s business partners, raking stupendous sums from the controversial businessman’s deals.
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In this case, OpenSkys and its supporters within the Jonathan administration claim that the wholesale transfer of the $476 million network to Mr. Offor’s firm is justified as “compensation” for the company’s alleged ownership of the frequencies on which the NPSCS network is deployed.
But one industry expert as well as a source within the Presidency said the company’s claim to ownership of the frequencies used by NPSCS is false. One police source stated that the Nigeria Police Force have owned the 450MHz, band A “for many, many years,” adding that the police communications equipment had always been on that frequency band. In 2008, the NCC decided to move the police to Band L as part of a plan to offer Band A for sale to a commercial user. However, the police estimated that the proposed migration would cost N1.77 billion as at 2009. The NCC subsequently disclosed that Band A had been allocated to Mr. Offor’s OpenSkys, but on condition that the company pay the cost of the police migration to a different band. In the meantime, former President Yar’Adua initiated the National Public Security Communications System (NPSCS) project in 2008 during a state visit to China.
“Since Offor’s OpenSkys had not fulfilled the conditions to take over ownership of Band A frequency before the Yar’Adua administration awarded the NPSCS contract to ZTE of China, all the police equipment were still tuned to that band as the security network was built,” said one source.
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“Imagine what Emeka Offor is trying to do. He is trying to snatch a government-owned network worth $470 million (N76.6 billion). In addition, the police have billions of naira of existing equipment on the same band,” said one source.
Our investigation disclosed that, in 2012, Mr. Offor’s OpenSkys issued a cheque for N350 million to the police administration, representing a tiny portion of the N1.77 billion that was estimated in 2009 as the cost of migrating the police to a different band. “You can see a pattern of criminal intent in the company’s modus operandi,” one source said, adding that Mr. Offor rushed to give the police a partial cheque when he knew that the NPSCS network construction was virtually completed.
One of our sources in the Presidency revealed that some officials of the Jonathan administration have advised the outgoing president that there are no grounds to construe OpenSkys as the owner of the frequency band on which the NPSCS network is deployed. “In fact, the police long ago asked the company to take back its partial payment,” said the source.
Our sources said that Mr. Jonathan was under tremendous pressure from Mr. Offor, Vice President Sambo, and Mr. Anyim to give final approval to OpenSkys’ proposal to hijack a government-funded security network in order to sell its services to security agencies. “Emeka Offor and his group have been mounting pressure on the administration to conclude everything before May 29 when Buhari will come in,” one source in the government said.
An administration insider said Mr. Jonathan had approved an absurd proposal to have Mr. Offor’s company assume responsibility for paying off the $399.5 million from revenues generated from commercializing the network.
“It is absurd because you can’t simply transfer a government loan to a private corporate entity,” one lawyer familiar with the issue said.
A high-ranking security source told SaharaReporters that the NPSCS network represents the most critical tool in the fight against terrorism. “It does not make sense at all to privatize such a critical national security tool,” he said.
All security agents who spoke to us wondered why the Jonathan administration had allowed Mr. Offor’s hijack scheme to…
