• Fraud Allegation Rocks Nigeria’s LPG Sub-sector

The Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA) is fighting an integrity battle to regain the confidence of its global body – World LPGA, the government and the public.

This is coming after its planned fifth Africa LPG Summit 2018 scheduled for June 19 and 20 in Lagos failed as a result of alleged misappropriation of funds set aside for the summit.

The botched summit would have been the first in Nigeria as the first and second summits were successfully held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2014 and 2015, the third in Tanzania in 2016, the fourth in Johannesburg, South Africa last year and the fifth in Nigeria but which eventually flopped.

At a fact-finding stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos to discuss the issue, the members noted that there is a huge reputation challenge before them, which requires urgent solution.

According to a report on the failed Africa LPG Summit, members of NLPGA stated that the Association broached the idea of hosting the summit in Nigeria after South Africa and mandated the Executive Secretary of NLPGA, Mr. Joseph Eromosele to drive the planning and work with the acting Director of the LPG summit, Vincent Choy. Eromosele was supposed to arrange visas for those coming from outside Nigeria as well as make arrangements for the speakers, pecial guests of honour, accommodations, exhibition and conference spaces.

Unfortunately, the money paid by member-companies and affiliates of NLPGA for the venue, hotel accommodation of some VIPs, as well as cash transferred to Eromosele were allegedly diverted by him.

NLPGA Deputy President, Mr. Felix Ekundayo, told the LPG stakeholders that the association discovered the fraud committed by Eromosele when the intending participants who paid could not access their bookings online and reported to the association’s executive.

Ekundayo said the executives of the association at various meetings asked Eromosele about the summit, but he was always coming up with excuses. “When we heard about the issue, we constituted an emergency meeting. Eromosele was immediately cut off from all communications and all the platforms of the NLPGA, and sent out disclaimers,” he said.

He noted that Eromosele had been suspended, and the case reported to the police, adding that the Special Fraud Unit of the Police would take up the investigation after required processes are completed.

This was also confirmed by other top officials of the NLPGA. Ekundayo further said $11,000 has been recovered from Eromosele so far.

According to the report available, the organisers of the Africa LPG Summit, All Events Group Pte Limited, was working with Eromosele through Vincent Choy, who collected and transferred the money to Eromosele.

The report also said Eromosele advised intending foreign participants to apply for a visa on arrival (VoA) and that they should submit applications of over 70 participants. “Up to the day of our flight, the 15th June 2018, the letter of approval for the visas was not issued and we were forced to cancel our flight.

“We advised all the participants who had been relying on NLPGA to organise the VoA that they were not now going to be available, and we had no option but to cancel the event.

“All the other exhibitors and speakers who were asked to apply for their own visas because they submitted their applications late were able to obtain their visas,” the report quoted the intending foreign participants as saying.

The report also said the organisers noted that NLPGA President, Mr. Nuhu Yakubu, was unaware that the association had been working with them as a co-organiser.

The report said: “The VIPs, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources whom Eromosele, has confirmed and asked us to pay for his accommodation, had no knowledge that the event was taking place.

“Several other speakers who were confirmed by Eromosele to be on the agenda were also unaware they were on the agenda. We highly suspect that the executive secretary of the NLPGA was acting alone and that the visas were not submitted properly to the immigration office and all the planning for the event we thought was in place, had not been done.

“As a result, we were forced to cancel/postpone the event and suffer significant costs and claims from exhibitors for cancelled flights and other costs because they had been unable to travel.

“Also, the funds which have already been transferred to Eromosele, the executive secretary of the NLPGA, are at this moment unaccounted for,” the report added.

The vice president, eminent industry chiefs, such as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), among others, said they were unaware of the summit, with all the loopholes in the planning, the summit was cancelled.

The participants at the stakeholders’ meeting were not convinced by the presentations of the NLPGA executives, noting that they have failed for allowing an employee of the Association to drag its name and integrity in the mud nationally and internationally.

The stakeholders agreed on setting up a five-man committee cutting across all the segments of the LPG sub-sector.They include Mr. Gbenga Falusi, Chairman, Jacob Wale Coker, Mr. George Ebubechukwu and Mr. Monday Nwatu.

It was learnt that the money allegedly misappropriated by Eromosele ran into tens of millions of naira and the Singaporean, Choy, who was working with him to facilitate the participation of foreigners at the summit, according to the stakeholders, was naïve to have placed his trust on just one individual (Eromosele) for the event. With multiple red flags happening throughout the organisation of the event, more due diligence should have been conducted and further clarification sought from the association.

Choy has resigned as a result of the fraudulent transactions.