President Tinubu Should Speak Up On The Shady NNPCL Loan Deal – Atiku

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has come out to ask President Bola Tinubu to account for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan.

He recently had his say via his social media page, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, he can only wonder why the only information available to the public on the mega-deal is coming only through sources from the NNPCL, and it is very strange that the FG decided to register a company in the Bahamas, knowing full well the recent scandal of the Paradise Papers that involved that country.

He added that he needs the Federal Government to speak up on this shady deal as soon as possible to clear the air.

His words, “SPV is the borrower while the NNPCL is the sponsor, with an agreement to pay with crude oil to the SPV in order to liquidate the loan at an interest rate that is a little over 12 per cent.

What is even more confounding about this deal is why the Federal Government would register a company in the Bahamas, knowing full well the recent scandal of the Paradise Papers that involved that country.

Curiously also, Nigeria’s current Barrels Produced Daily (BPD) is 1.38 million, and according to the Project Gazelle deal, Nigeria is to supply 90,000 Barrels of its daily production, starting from 2024 till it is up to 164.25 million barrels for the repayment of the loan.

Now, this is where the details get disturbing because Nigeria’s benchmark for the sale of crude per barrel in 2024 is $77.96. A simple multiplication of that figure by 164.25 will give us a whooping $12bn.

It is on this note that we are calling on the Federal Government to speak up on this shady deal.

It is inconceivable that the Federal Government will lead the country to take a loan of $3.3b with an interest rate that is not more than 12 percent, but with estimated repayment amounting to $12bn.

That is a humongous differential of about $7b between what is in the details of the deal on paper and what indeed is the reality.”