National Telescope national telescope newspaper
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party at the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to account for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan.
It will be recalled that the NNPCL, through the African Export-Import Bank, secured a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan aimed at supporting the naira and stabilising the foreign exchange market on August 16, 2023.
The Tinubu-led government, however, received $2.25 billion out of the $3.3 billion FX facility from the bank about three weeks ago.
However, in a statement on Thursday, Atiku raised concerns about the deal, saying that it is the NNPCL that is releasing information on the matter.
It reads in part, “SPV is the borrower while the NNPCL is the sponsor, with an agreement to pay crude oil to the SPV in order to liquidate the loan at an interest rate that is a little over 12 percent.
“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 in 2024, until 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 whopping $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 an 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.”
