A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has called for an independent audit of business dealings between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Dangote Refinery.
This is as the Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group and owner of the Dangote Refinery, Aliko Dangote, last week, revealed that NNPCL had capped its equity in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery at 7.2 per cent instead of the speculated 20 per cent.
“The agreement was actually 20 per cent which we had with NNPC, and they did not pay the balance of the money up till last year; then we gave them another extension up till June (2024), and they said that they would remain where they have already paid, which is 7.2 per cent. So NNPC owns only 7.2 per cent, not 20 per cent.” [/b]Dangote stated.
[b]NNPC confirmed this, saying it decided not to invest further in the refinery.
Reacting to the controversies, Ezekwesili said she had earlier decided not to speak on the Dangote refinery-NNPC saga.
“However, as more and more information filtered out from both parties, we can reasonably conclude that something seriously murky has gone on and needs to be fully unravelled for public accountability. And urgently, too,” she stated.
The former minister added, “How can a project that by all definition attained the stature of a ‘national interest project’ be marred in this depth of embarrassing controversy that is playing out in the full glare of the local and international investing community?
“Did the Nigerian government not tell us it borrowed $3.3bn from Afriexim-Bank to take a stake in the Dangote refinery?”
Ezekwesili recalled that during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, she told the NNPC that it could not run as a federation on its own.
“When we were in government, I often told the NNPC leadership that they cannot carry on as though there is a ‘Federal Republic of the NNPC’.
Peoplesmind
