By Ebere Inyama
(Lagos) A member of President Tinibu’s Cabinet, Abdulkabir Aliu, has claimed responsibility for the massive importation of substandard petrol into Nigeria from Malta.
Aliu, who is the owner of Matrix Energy, and a member of the presidential economic coordination council (PECC), issued a statement on 17th August, 2024, denying that his company violated any rule in the line of their business activities. He admitted that Matrix won tenders from the National Oil Company (NNPC) to export large quantities of crude oil abroad but did not disclose the identity of the country where Matrix exported crude in the last one year.
Aliu was reacting to a recent publication by TruthNigeria in which an anonymous critic accused President Tinibu’s family of cheating Nigerians through fraudulent exports of crude oil to Malta.
According to the critic, Tinibu’s company purchases crude oil at a low price from NNPC, exports the crude to Malta where it is refined into petroleum products and afterward, imports the products into Nigeria at a huge mark up.
So far, there has been no official reports of partnership between Wale Tinibu’s company, Oando and Aliu’s company, Matrix energy.
Reactions Trail Reports Of Toxic Fuel Imported From Malta
Reacting to the reports linking Matrix energy to the importation of substandard fuel into Nigeria, a human rights advocacy group, Citizens and Economic Freedom Rights Activists in Nigeria (CEFRAN), has called for a judicial inquiry by the Federal Government to unravel the fraud in the importation of toxic fuel.
At a press conference in Abuja during the weekend, CEFRAN Convener, Obinna Francis, called for the immediate resignation of the heads of the regulatory agencies in Nigeria and the suspension of Aliu pending a full investigation.
About 35 percent of crude oil shipped into Malta is naphtha and other components which are blended into gasoline to produce lower quality ‘African Spec’. (Petroleum naphtha is an intermediate hydrocarbon liquid stream derived from the refining of crude oil. In some industries and regions, the name naphtha refers to refined petroleum products such as kerosene or diesel fuel.) This lower quality spec is then loaded into various vessels for delivery into Nigeria to be sold to unsuspecting public who suffer frequent vehicle and equipment breakdowns, according to a report from the cable.
Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria, an automobile mechanic based in Owerri, Imo state, Mr. Kelechi Amadi said that a good number of vehicles break down in Nigeria due to adulterated petrol or diesel.
“ In many instances in the past, I have worked on vehicles that broke down due to bad fuel.
“ The worrisome aspect of the whole thing is that the fuel put in the said vehicles were purchased from big filling stations in the state capital.
“This problem happens not only with vehicles that use petrol (PMS), but also with vehicles that run on diesel.
“Breakdown occurs in some vehicles after the first use of adulterated fuel but in other vehicles, breakdown occurs after a prolonged use of the product”, he said.
Matrix Energy Involved In Oil Subsidy Scam, Illegal Importation Of Fuel
On 11th October, 2012, Mr. Abdulkabir Aliu and two other Managers of Matrix energy limited were arraigned at the Magistrate Court 5, Lagos state over their involvement in a N13.376 billion ($83 million based on the exchange rate in 2012) oil subsidy fraud.
According to the 11 grounds for the remand request endorsed by Effiong Asuquo, a Superintendent of Police, the suspects obtained the money by falsely pretending that the company had imported and sold 538,74 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit during the 2011 fiscal year through 26 transactions.
The fraud was discovered by the Presidential Committee on the verification and reconciliation of fuel subsidy payments.
They were later remanded in police custody at the Special Fraud Unit, Lagos at the instance of Magistrate Martins Owumi while Police continued the investigation.
On 26 May, 2024, shipping tracking data showed the loading of off-spec (toxic fuel) products by matrix vessels such as vessel ‘MT Kallos’ from a ship that arrived from Novorossiysk, Russia.
Russia was excommunicated from the swift global banking framework of nearly 12,000 banks — which means Russian banks cannot open letter of credit for exports, which makes any oil and gas transaction between Nigerian companies and Russian refineries illegal, according to Kelvin Emmanuel, energy expert and co-founder and CEO of Dairy Hills.
Diesel from Russia is typically off-spec and is often corrected in places such as Lome and Malta through blending with other components, according to the cable
NNPC Sold Large Quantity Of Crude Oil To Matrix Energy Below Official Price
President Tinibu’s appointee, Aliu, is using his close relations with the top management of the NNPCL to secure a discretional allocation of large number of crude oil cargoes from the national oil company for his company on monthly basis.
The crude allocations to Matrix are traded by Gulf Transport & Trading (GTT), a trading company registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Two of the three crude cargoes of the recently launched Utapate grade (the Utapate crude oil blend has a low sulphur content and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required spec of major buyers in Europe) were allocated to GTT and were sold at a price of $3 per barrel, whereas the official price of a barrel of crude oil is $77, according to a report by the cable. (one cargo of crude oil comprises 1million barrels of crude oil).
Nigeria’s Crude Oil Mortgaged to Matrix Energy by NNPC for 5 Years
NNPC sold crude oil to Matrix Energy at an astonishingly low price ($3 per barrel) as reward for financial assistance given to the NNPC by Matrix energy in 2020, TruthNigeria has learned.
At the height of COVID 19 in 2020, Nigeria had a shortfall of revenue. To make up for the shortfall, the NNPC arranged to receive a pre-payment plan of $1.5 billion from Matrix and Vitol. According to TruthNigeria sources, the repayment to Matrix was going to be from daily production of 30,000 barrels of crude oil from an OML in which NNPC has 100 percent equity, and it would run for 5 years under an SPV called Project Eagle. (SPV is created as a legally independent subsidiary that serves the purpose of guiding a company to reduce the risk associated with participation in a new project).
This shortfall of revenue was claimed by the NNPC despite the fact that the NNPC has 100 percent ownership of six blocks (OMLs 13, 64, 65, 66, 111 and 119), 55 percent equity in eight blocks: Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 40, 41 and 42 and 60 percent participatory interest in four blocks (OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63),
The daily 30,000 barrels of crude oil sold to Matrix and Vitol at $3 per barrel was to repay the Nigerian government’s “loan” from Matrix and Vitol of $1.5 billion during Covid-19. These 30,000 barrels of oil reportedly were taken to Malta, blended and sold to Nigerians. (Crude oil blending involves the mixing of multiple types of crude oils to achieve a desired blend that meets specific requirements).
By the end of 2025, the 5-year deal to repay Matrix and Vitol their $1.5 billion is scheduled to end.
Ebere Inyama is an Imo State–based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria
