Osinbajo admits approving NNPC contracts

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has admitted approving for the contentious contracts for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The award of the $26 billion contracts has become an issue of contention between the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President, on Media,Mr. Laolu Akande, said in a series of tweets on his verified twitter handle @akandeoj, on Thursday that the contracts were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President recently.
He said the Vice President approved the recommendations for the contracts as part of necessary actions to deal with a backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivize investments.
He said he made the clarification in view of media inquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo.
The tweets stated: “In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President, approved recommendations after due diligence & adherence to established procedure. Action necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari administration inherited and also to incentivize much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector.”