$25bn NNPC contracts — my letter was on governance

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, says that there is no fraud in the award of contracts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

H also said President Muhammadu Buhari has asked him to work together with the NNPC GMD to move the oil industry forward.

Kachikwu had accused Baru of insubordination and of awarding contracts to the tune $25 billion without due process.

But Baru denied the allegations.

The allegations were detailed in a letter to the president. TheCable reported that the document was leaked to the media before it was dispatched to the president.

The president met with Kachikwu over the issue, but the minister refused to speak with journalists at the end of the meeting.

But speaking in Owerri, Imo state at the end of a three-day Nigerian content workshop organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, on Friday, the minister said the president asked him to work together with the NNPC GMD to avoid “doubt and rift”.

He also said his letter was not based on fraud but on governance.

“The conversation has been largely misunderstood to border on fraud. It was not on fraud, but on governance and suggestions on ways to go about it. I think a lot of people got it wrong,” he said.

“People dwell much on issues of sensationalism and leave the main substance. The group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru, and I are working together as Mr President had directed to move forward.”

“Mr President has urged the two of us to find ways of working together to remove doubt and rift.“Mr President is a decent man and what he wants to achieve in this country is to leave a legacy for posterity. He is a sincere leader, so nobody should accuse him of engaging in fraud.”