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| NNPC |
The Nigerian Government has dismissed reports that $25bn worth of oil contracts were awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Media aide to Nigeria’s vice president Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, said this in a statement on Sunday.
"No contracts were procured by the NNPC based on the leaked memo of the Petroleum Resources Minister of State, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, even though such impressions have been maliciously created in the past few weeks" the statement read.
In his leaked letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the minister claimed that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, awarded five major contracts worth $25 billion which were never brought before him or the NNPC board.
The vice president had said on 12 October that he granted authorisation to two ventures from the corporation while president Buhari was on medical leave.
He, however, said that the approvals were specifically for financing joint ventures through loans and not contracts.
"When I tweeted on Thursday morning last week, I had indicated that the Vice President, while acting as president approved Joint Venture Financing arrangements” Akande said.
"But for some curious reasons, a few media reports used that tweet to report that I said the then Acting President approved N640 Billion worth of oil contracts.
Such reporting is both false and misleading and, therefore, ought to be completely ignored by all seekers of truth.”
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