A group of lawyers stormed the Federal Ministry of Finance on Monday to demand a judicial commission of inquiry into the tenure of Mele Kolo Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
The lawyers under the aegis of the Guardian of Democracy And Rule of law, who submitted a petition to the Ministry, alleged that Kyari’s leadership was marked by monumental corruption, tax evasion, abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds.
Led by Barrister Benjamin Theophilus, the lawyers cited several areas of concern, including the alleged inflated cost of refineries rehabilitation contracts, fraudulent allocation of crude oil proceeds, misappropriation of funds in the AKK Gas Pipeline Project, fuel subsidy fraud and value review for NNPCL’s crude-backed loans.
According to the petition, NNPCL under Kyari’s leadership spent over $4 billion on refineries repairs, contrary to an initial proposal of $1 billion for all three refineries.
“Mele Kyari is alleged to have collaborated with certain consultants and contractors involved in the refineries rehabilitation projects to conceal the actual cost of the contracts and evade taxes due to the Federal Government,” the petition stated.
“Seven years ago, there was a proposal by a consortium of private sector firms to repair the 3 refineries, with a total capacity of 445 kbpd (thousand barrels per day) for about $1 billion.
“NNPCL under Mele Kyari has expended $1.5 billion on the Port Harcourt Refinery, $1.5 billion on the Warri Refinery and $1 billion on the Kaduna Refinery bringing the total of what Kyari spent on the refineries to more than $4 billion as opposed to the $1 billion that the consortium has requested for all the refineries.
“Even after expending these inflated sums, the refineries are unable to produce gasoline without using large quantities of chemicals from Indorama. This is a monumental project cost inflation as about $500 million is sufficient to build a brand new simple 600 kbpd refinery that will operate at a better efficiency.
“There is credible information that crude oil allocations were diverted, and financial transactions were carried out under the guise of ‘pipeline security”’at a suspicious rate of 80,000 barrels per day, with no transparent process or accountability mechanism.
“The AKK Pipeline Project, initially valued at $5 billion has been riddled with irregularities in the award and execution of contracts. Despite several budgetary provisions and foreign financing arrangements, there is little physical progress or transparency in fund utilisation.
“There have been repeated allegations of fraud tied to the payment of fuel subsidy. It is instructive to note that while the rest of the world witnessed a decline in fuel consumption in 2020 due to COVID, NNPCL increased its imports of petroleum products during the same period.
“Under Mele Kyari, NNPCL took various crude-backed loans which hit $21.565 billion since 2019. Aside from mortgaging future production, the structure of these loans disadvantage Nigeria as upside from trading Nigeria’s crude in the international market was ceded to traders.“
The lawyers demanded a thorough investigation into the payments made to consultants and contractors handling the refineries, as well as the work scopes and delivery of the projects.
The protesters also alleged that crude oil allocations were diverted and financial transactions were carried out under the guise of “pipeline security” without transparent processes or accountability mechanisms.
They further claimed that the AKK Pipeline Project was riddled with irregularities in the award and execution of contracts.
The lawyers urged the Ministry to constitute a judicial commission of inquiry into Kyari’s tenure, investigate the failure of past audit reports, and collaborate with relevant government institutions to recover public funds if found to have been misappropriated.
They also demanded that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) probe suspected tax evasion and fraudulent declarations.
