FORMER Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has made a stage-back to government.

He was appointed yesterday chairman of the newly 21-member of Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force by the Federal Government.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said the Task Force was designed to enhance probity, transparency and accountability in the operations of the petroleum industry.

She said the body would among other things, work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues, which include taxes, royalties, dues and payables to the government.

Alison-Madueke in the statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Goni Sheikh, explained that the Task Force would take needed steps to collect debts and obtain agreements and enforce payment terms by all oil industry operators.

The development may not have been unconnected with the recent rot thrown up by the National Assembly’s probe of the management of the fuel subsidy and other trends in oil industry sector.

The government said the Ribadu group would also design a cross-debt matrix between all agencies and parastatals of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Ribadu was dropped as EFCC boss in 2008 by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and sent to the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). His travail worsened when the Nigerian Police Service (NPS) Commission dismissed him for alleged serious misconduct.

The Deputy Secretary of the NPS, Mr. Sulaiman Abba, who announced Ribadu’s dismissal, said it was in line with the recommendation of a Force Disciplinary Committee, which found “Ribadu’s actions to be inimical to national security.”

He made an unimpressive sojourn into politics and emerged as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential candidate in the April 2011 polls, won by President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Alison-Madueke,  “the Special Task Force is to develop an automated platform to enable effective tracking, monitoring and online validation of income and debt drivers of all parastatals and agencies in the Ministry.”

It will also work with world-class consultants to integrate systems and technology across the production chain to determine and monitor crude oil production and exports, ensuring at all times, the integrity of payments to the Federal Government and submit monthly reports for ministerial review and further action”.            

The committee, which experts described last night as “bogus”, has former Head of Service of the Federation, Steve Oronsaye, as the deputy chairman.
Other members of the panel are Abba Kyari,  Benedicta Molokwu, Supo Sasore, Tony Idigbe, Anthony George-Ikoli, Omolara Akanji and Olisa Agbakoba.
Others are Ituah Ighodalo, Bon Otti, Olusegun Okunnu, Samaila Zubairu, Ignatius Adegunle, and Gerald Ilukwe.

The committee also has representatives of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.