Percy Onyeka
A worldwide transparency organization called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative on Tuesday demanded more information from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited over its 20% ownership stake in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
It made the accusation while the EITI group was visiting Nigeria, emphasizing that NNPCL still needed to clarify its ownership stake in the $20 billion refinery.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s Technical Director, Alex Gordy, told reporters at the organization’s Abuja headquarters that the national oil company needed to be more open because there were a lot of unanswered questions about NNPCL’s purchase of a 20% share in the refinery.
He said the oil firm should reveal the equity mode of payment, as all that was in the public domain was that the national oil company would pay for the equity acquisition with crude oil deliveries.
“How is it supposed to be paid? For we know at this point it is to be paid from future oil deliveries.
“But how would that be valued at market rates and the different rates with those supplies of petroleum from NNPC and consistent deductions from the Federal Government revenues? Or will it be from NNPC oil production?” Gordy stated.
The delegation was in Nigeria due to the recent validation of the nation’s extractive industry, according to Bady Balde, another member of the mission and deputy executive director of the EITI.
He noted that one of the nation’s biggest shortcomings, particularly with regard to validation assessment, had been the lack of a stable National Stakeholders Working Group (NSWG) for the NEITI board.
He emphasized that the lack of stakeholder interaction rendered the NEITI data worthless, saying, “The vacancy was the issue of concern that led to this mission.”
Techrectory with Agency Report
