Nigeria probes oil concessions

2008-06-17 17:29

Abuja - A top Nigerian government oil official has been sent on forced leave to allow a probe to proceed into oil concessions awarded during the era of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, the government said on Monday.

"The federal government has asked the director, department of petroleum resources, Tony Chukwueke to proceed on leave pending the completion of an in-depth audit relating to the 2007 oil prospecting bid round," the energy ministry said in a statement.

"No specific findings of impropriety" have been established against the director.

The probe was looking into suspicions that concessions could have been corruptly dished out on the eve of Obasanjo's exit, as parting gifts to his loyalists.

This was not the first time Chukwueke had been removed from office. In 2006, he was suspended from office for several weeks and then re-instated, although no official reason was given for the move.

The DPR was responsible for allocating exploration blocs through an auction system.

Nigeria's parliament launched an investigation in April of leasing out of oil exploration blocs and drilling between 1999 and 2007 when Obasanjo was in power.

Last year Obasanjo's successor President Umaru Yar'adua vowed to sanitise the oil industry.

Nigeria was until recently Africa's premier oil producer, before it was overtaken by Angola, according to the International Energy Agency.

- AFP