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Kachikwu In Fresh Trouble

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has been taken to the cleaners by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Mr. Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity via a statement reveal that: “When you look diligently at the referenced projects/transactions one by one, you will see, as the NNPC has shown, that none of them was actually a procurement contract.”

“Take the Crude Term Contract and the Direct Sale-Direct Purchase agreements, for instance, these are not procurement contracts involving the expenditure of public funds. Both transactions are simply a shortlist process, in which prospective off-takers of crude oil and suppliers of petroleum are selected under agreed terms, and in accordance with due process.”

“It is therefore wrong and misleading to refer to them as though they are contracts involving the expenditure of the NNPC funds, or public funds of any sort. As you now know, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources himself has in fact clarified that he meant to focus on administrative and governance issues, not raising a red-flag about any fraud – because no fraud exists in this matter.”

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“For the sake of emphasis, let me state clearly that both the Crude Term Contract and the Direct Sale-Direct Purchase agreements are not contracts for any procurement of goods, work or services, and therefore do not involve the use of public funds. Instead, they are simply a shortlist of off-takers.”

Before now, the minister has sent a memo to President Muhammadu Buhari titled: “Matters of Insubordination and Lack of Adherence To Due Process Perpetuated by GMD NNPC (HMS/MPR/001/Vol.1/100)”

“Mr. President, yesterday, like many other Nigerians, I resumed work confronted by many changes within NNPC. Like many reorganization and reposting are done since Dr. Baru resumed as GMD, I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments. This is so despite being Minister of State Petroleum and Chairman, NNPC Board.”

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“At a minimum and like other parastatals supervised by me at the Ministry have continued to do and in compliance with proper governance standards expected of a multinational oil sector organization.”

“I have been on a race to stabilize and move the industry to the next phase. Timing is critical. The sector is also in a critical state where only innovative ideas can stop the alarming impact of the fall of oil prices on national income. The innovations that we have developed and started implementing in the downstream, upstream, policy generation and Niger Delta security have enabled the sector to aggressively pursue out of the box ideas of rejuvenating this sector, getting the best yield and increasing our earnings from Oil and Gas. What this means is that parastatals in the Ministry and all CEOs of these parastatals must be aligned with the policy drive of the supervising ministry to allow the sector register the growth that has eluded it for years. To do otherwise or to exempt any of the parastatals would be to emplace a stunted growth in the industry.”

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See full petition below…