MARILYN AMOBI- NBET BOSS IN A MESSY FINANCIAl SCANDAL

By Abdul Kadir

The controversial MD/CEO of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc., Marilyn Amobi with less than 3 months 3 Weeks to the end of her 4 year tenure which expires on 24th July 2020, is in the news again , her tenure has seen a once esteemed public institution decimate into an epicenter of financial scandal.

Marilyn, the NBET boss is presently in another financial scandal that revolves round administrative stripping.

Despite her appointment letter expressly stating 4 years tenure, Marilyn Amobi allegedly paid herself a whopping 77 million naira into her Stanbic Bank Account No 0019128749 as 6 years rent and furniture grant in violation of her Appointment Letter.
Our check revealed that Amobi started enriching herself by sending NBET staff and non-staff on group training to Aarhus University in Denmark where the facilitator Prof Erik Reimer Larsen was a partner in the company (ESL Economics and Management Associates Ltd with RC No 1025108 and subsequent certificate No 751030) owned and operated by Dr Amobi with 80% shareholding.
In a memo exclusively obtained by this medium, entitled “Invitation to the MD/CEO to participate at a high level meeting on investment in the power sector from Thursday 10th October, 2019 in Washington DC” dated Monday, October 2018 2018, signed by Nene Oiza Isa , Three Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety- Eight Thousand, six Hundred and Thirty-Eight Naira (#3,998,638) was approved for the business trip to Washington DC. For the Managing Director of NBET, the travel agent on the invoice sent to NBET put the cost of the trip at #2, 262, 738 for the return ticket to the Washington DC.
But the NBET management paid #5,947,112.53 as the cost of the journey ” Being reimbursement in favour of the MD/CEO for cost incurred to participate at the High level meeting in Washington DC.

Her insolent remarks to the immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power, impolite response to the immediate and current Ministers of Power, disregard for the DG BPE (BPE owns 80% stake in NBET) and offensive approach to the Office of the Vice President is no longer news to all. Amobi’s shifting loyalty has seen her smear her benefactors including the Office of the Vice President, IFC’s and Development Partners while she goes about laying huge blame on others and exposing records on the ACCUGAS/NDPHC deal which currently exposes the Nigerian Government to a financial liability of over $10 million (ten million dollars) monthly that is passed on to the consumers through exorbitant electricity tariff, thus contributing to the high cost of electricity in Nigeria. What Amobi fails to tell others during her shaming game is that she was a signatory to the ACCUGAS/NDPHC deal.

Accused of violation of the Public Procurement Act in the alleged contract splitting of N650 million naira office partitioning contract to Julius Berger and maintaining foreign account and wired £95,000 in 2018, two years after assumption of office. Her inglorious payment to the tune of N2billion naira monthly over-invoicing in favour of Olorunsogo Power Plc. and Omotosho Power Plc. came as a rude shock to Nigerians who are dealt the short end of the stick to pay for bloated cost of inefficient power supply.

To further worsen the matter, our check revealed that the reconstituted Board of Directors of NBET reconstituted since August 2018 was yet to be inaugurated till date, the account of the agency was not subjected to external auditing.

The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. (NBET) is a trading licensee created by the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (2005) as a special purpose vehicle to buy electricity from Generation Companies (GenCos) through the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and sell to the Distribution Companies (DisCos) through Vesting Contract (VC). NBET was inaugurated on 29 July 2010, and holds an operating license from the Nigerian Electricity Trading Plc. (NERC) as a power sector entity.

Several calls and visit to NBET for clarification failed as the embattled MD has since embark on terminal leave.