An enterprise resource solution for
accountability in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s
business processes, turned a spin project for crooked top officials to
steal billions, a report reveals.
The project, which had 86 weeks
completion time-line, has dragged for more than three years, after
gulping almost double the contract sum originally approved by the
Nigerian presidency, with nothing to show.
The resource solution is called SAP Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP).
It is an electronic management solution
deployed by most global organisations to monitor real-time operations of
a network of subsidiaries and affiliates irrespective of their
locations.
All-in-one solution
The solution is an all-in-one package,
comprising different modules for standard business, financial, contracts
management and personnel information, data and processes in the
business value chain.
The automated tool is usually deployed
once and run globally through an integrated network that links all the
organisation’s operational units and affiliates seamlessly, irrespective
of location.
Most multi-national oil companies, like
Royal Dutch Shell Group, ExxonMobil Corporation, Chevron Corporation and
Total operate such integrated global systems that allow seamless
monitoring of business processes with partners and government agencies
from any location.
In 2013, Royal Dutch Shell Corporation,
the world’s fourth largest oil producer, with about 3.1 million barrels
of oil equivalent per day, and almost 40,000 staff, spent only
$32million to deploy a similar solution within 18 months.
With the tool, Shell monitors real-time
operational processes involving thousands of subsidiaries and affiliates
in over 90 countries around the world, including Nigeria.
Curiously, a detailed implementation
review report in February 2015 by the corporate audit department of the
NNPC, exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES , showed how the deployment
of a similar platform by the NNPC turned out a specimen of monumental
fraud.
By January 2015, the report said the SAP
ERP implementation gulped almost double the total amount approved for
the deployment of the solution in all NNPC’s 13 subsidiaries, affiliates
and strategic business units (SBUs).
The report, titled “Review of SAP
Implementation Project” from Assignment No. HPA/1/2015/02, stated: “a
major risk that hindered the completion time-line of the project was
connectivity required to support SAP to go-live was not fully available.
“There seems to be a disconnect between
the business units (users of different SAP solutions) and the SAP PMO as
per the completeness of deployment and usability of the solution.
“While SAP PMO considers SAP program as
having been completed and closed, most business units are still
grappling with challenges, ranging from incomplete deployment, lack of
integration amongst modules and usability.”
NNPC enterprise solution conceived
The SAP ERP was first approved by the
board of the corporation on May 15, 2007 as a plank for the then
Olusegun Obasanjo administration’s reform agenda in the country’s oil
and gas industry.
But PREMIUM TIMES investigations
revealed that successive NNPC managements, beginning with Funso
Kupolokun as GMD, always exploited loopholes in the project’s execution
to milk the system of billions.
Findings showed that Accenture, the
management consulting and technology services firm, was originally
expected to run the project for $67million.
The company was paid about $3million in 2007 to carry out the “blueprinting”, a road-map for implementing the solution.
However, another bid for $24million was received from SAP of Germany through its Nigerian subsidiary, SAP Nigeria.
This compelled Accenture to bring down its price to $25million after its allies on the NNPC Board had leaked the information.
Provisional Board approval favoured the
bid by SAP Nigeria, with majority of members persuaded with the argument
that as patent owner of the SAP solution, the company would provide
after sales service where necessary at no extra cost.
The Board decision to choose SAP Nigeria angered some key members, who were strongly rooting for Accenture.
Regardless, the then Special Adviser to
the President on Petroleum, Edmund Daukoru, stood up to the pressures by
some powerful Board members to overturn the Board’s decision for
Accenture.
Members of the Board were still abroad
in Harvard for a training programme when their dissolution was announced
by then President Obasanjo, apparently to frustrate the implementation
of their decision not to give Accenture the contract.
Days later, Mr. Kupolokun wrote to Mr.
Obasanjo requesting the reversal of the dissolved Board’s decision on
the contract to SAP Nigeria.
But, the president could do nothing on
the request without a reconstituted NNPC Board till Mr. Obasanjo’s
tenure ended in May 2007.
When Musa Yar’adua took over and the
NNPC Board was reconstituted, Mr. Kupolokun also approached him with a
similar memo. But, nothing could be done till he was removed from
office.
SAP ERP approved
Underground scheming on the project
continued till February 16, 2009 when President Yar’adua finally
approved about $25.57million for the entire project.
This excluded cost of critical related
infrastructure, $4.038 million; project team cost, $1.74 million,
project implementation in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries,
$5.4 million, totalling about $36.75million.
Shortly after the presidential approval
of the contract, the hawks went to work immediately, to realise through
other means what they could not in the board room – hijack the contract.
The plan coincided with the period
Surajdeen Afolabi’s employment as supply chain manager with Shell
Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria was about to come to end.
Mr. Afolabi was promptly recruited to take charge of the newly created department to coordinate the SAP project.
Although a non-IT professional, Mr.
Afolabi was assured strong management support to work independently of
the existing ICT Department.
Indeed, successive managements in NNPC
made good the assurances. Because of the high level complicity in the
executive scam, neither Mr. Afolabi nor the department he headed was
starved steady supply of hard currency, as all requests were routinely
met.
On assumption of office, Mr. Afolabi’s
first proposal was for $3million to conduct another “blueprinting”, done
earlier by Accenture. Despite opposition from the IT department,
approval was given and funds released.
Independent confirmation could not be
obtained on whether the funds were actually used for the purpose they
were released or not.
Beside, any staff poking his nose in the
affairs of the SAP project was either cut to size or shown the way out
of the department.
Almost double bill
Details of the expenditure on the
project exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that as at
January 2015, the NNPC had spent about $70.66 million and €6.06 million
as well as N820.089 million.
The amount is almost double the $36.75 million approved by the Federal Government for the completion of the entire project.
Yet, the solution is partially
functional in only five SBUs, namely: the Nigerian Petroleum Development
Company, NPDC; Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC;
Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL; NNPC Retail Limited and Crude
Oil Marketing departments, COMD, and Warri Refinery and Petrochemical
Company, WRPC.
Deployment in each SBU costs a minimum of $5million.
Project completion timeline was 86
weeks. But the review report showed that more than 36 months later,
implementation seemed to be leading nowhere.
“As at March 2012, over two years after
the take-off of the project, connectivity required to support SAP (to)
go live was not fully established,” the report said.
Experts fault deployment
A Lagos-based IT consultant, Fred Umahi,
criticized the deployment of stand-alone SAP solutions by NNPC, saying
as an enterprise solution, it should have been deployed once and run
globally through an integrated network linking all SBUs, irrespective of
location.
Mr. Umahi faulted the duplication of the
SAP solution in all NNPC subsidiaries without integration, describing
the absence of inter-connectivity between the SBUs so far deployed as
the main reason the solution had not been functional.
“Every organisation deploys one SAP
solution and integrate it to all its business units globally,” Mr. Umahi
explained. “Deploying stand-alone SAP hardware, data baseline and
operational system in silos by NNPC without integration is wrong.”
Those familiar with the implementation
of the project said the SAP project managers did not reckon with its
scope, in terms of the modules suitable for the business requirements
and peculiarities of each SBU.
For instance, workers in the Human
Resources, Crude Oil Marketing and Finance departments said the SAP
module deployed to them was not what they needed, because they were
serviced with different business modules and licenses.
Despite opposition by the IT department
that Microsoft Business Intelligence Suite had already been deployed,
the NNPC management went ahead to approve €4 million for Business
Intelligence solution using Business Object.
But the Business Intelligence module, a
management reporting tool for decision making, deployed at NPDC, failed
to work, because it does not run on Service Pack Zero, considered an
obsolete model that does not allow upgrade.
As a temporary solution, an upgrade from
Service Pack Zero to Service Pack 7 cost about $5million, apart from
additional charge of $2million per SBU for “stabilisation”; $1.9 million
for “corridor support” (training for prospective users) and €4 million
as annual SAP maintenance fee. “Customization” and “optimization”
attract similar fees.
Equally, approval was given for the
department to license all SAP solutions end-to-end at €4 million each,
irrespective of the fact that NNPC already had similar subsisting
licenses.
Despite the huge expenditure on the
deployment of the Business Intelligence that has failed to work, a
source in the NNPC, who asked not to be named, as he had no permission
to speak on the issue, said Mr. Afolabi already announced plans to scrap
the system.
In its place, he wants to introduce an
Enterprise Project Management, EPM system after NNPC had spent about
$1.9 million for in-house personnel training.
Approval has also been given for another contract to run a Project Sanctioning and Approval Procedure, P-SAP.
Hawking the solution
To capture more SBUs and affiliates to
buy in, the SAP department has continued to hawk the solution to all
NNPC subsidiaries and affiliates.
The audit report noted that Mr. Afolabi
made presentations proposing the solution to 18 SBUs and several
affiliates, like Brass LNG, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
“The problem with the SAP system is a
fundamental one,” one top NNPC said. “The structure was built on a
fraudulent foundation that no one can build on. The department that
deployed the solution, from top to bottom, is not technically competent.
“For the system to work, President
Muhammadu Buhari has unfinished business at NNPC. If his dream of
sanitizing the NNPC and bring it to international reckoning is to be
realized, cleaning the Aegean stable has to begin with the SAP project.
“Those who committed the fraud that has
cost government billions must be cleared from the system and the
contract reviewed. Otherwise, NNPC is doomed.”
NNPC says SAP is working
Regardless, NNPC spokesperson, Ohi
Alegbe, dismissed reports that the project was not working, saying those
complaining are those finding it difficult to adapt to the change since
the introduction of the solution in NNPC.
“Please, don’t get sucked in to the
false claims that SAP is not working. SAP is working very well. In fact,
the implementation of SAP is one of the success stories of the ongoing
transformation process at the NNPC,” Mr. Alegbe said.
Mr. Afolabi, who was in charge of the
SAP Department since 2007 as General Manager and recently appointed
Group General Manager, SAP/IT Department by the new NNPC management,
dismissed as “laughable and mischievous” claims that SAP in NNPC was not
working.
He provided commendation letters and
framed awards on the walls of his office received from previous NNPC
managements as testimonials for the performance of the SAP solution in
the corporation’s operational processes, particularly contract awards
and payments.
“SAP is working perfectly in NNPC,” Mr. Afolabi told PREMIUM TIMES in his office a fortnight ago in Abuja.
“Since the introduction of SAP in NNPC,
all aspects of our operations are working seamlessly. We have received
several awards and recognitions from NNPC management and outside because
of the SAP success story. The only challenge we have has been how to
get everybody to buy in.”
He refused to give further details.
Although Mr. Afolabi promised to provide
“vigorous and robust responses” if PREMIUM TIMES submitted a formal
request for clarification on issues relating to SAP in NNPC, he failed
on three occasions, over two weeks, to provide answers to questions sent
to him.
Despite their claims that SAP was
working well, the newly appointed Group Managing Director of NNPC, Ibe
Kachikwu, recently expressed frustration and disappointment over the
project, officials there told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Kachikwu reportedly told a meeting
of NNPC’s top management officials that despite the huge investment in
project, it remained more of a drainpipe than a solution, particularly
in helping curb corruption in its business processes.
The General Manager, ITD/SAP of NNPC,
Inuwa Danladi, recently recruited to head the seven-member SAP Team, was
said to have recommended that based on the implementation review
report, the SAP project cannot function effectively except it was
dismantled and deployed afresh.
Mr. Danladi is said to have told the
NNPC management that the deployment of SAP in the corporation was
deliberately designed to fail, so as to serve as a conduit for its
managers to siphon money.
(premiun time)
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