A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has called on the nation’s anti-graft agencies to urgently probe the alleged award of $3.7 billion contract to rehabilitate the four refineries in the country.
Frank, in a statement in Abuja, strongly condemned the award of the said $3.7 billion contract to rehabilitate the nation’s refineries as revealed by the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the state of refineries in the country.
He described the contract sum as an unimaginable heist and brutal looting of the nation’s financial resources under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch in a country where average Nigerians can no longer afford one meal per day.
The activist also condemned the refusal of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari; and other officials from appearing before a statutory committee of the National Assembly to explain why and how such colossal amount were earmarked to service the moribund refineries.
He called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to wake up from their slumber by arresting and prosecuting all those involved in the nauseating contract scandal.
Frank insisted that the sum has either been grossly mismanaged, stolen outright or about to be looted.
He said: “Since 2015 till date, Buhari has been the substantive Minister of Petroleum and he cannot claim ignorance of the award of this bizarre contract. It is benumbing that despite revelation by Mr Tony Elumelu that 95 per cent of oil production in Nigeria is being stolen, Buhari who is in charge as Minister of Petroleum has not deemed it necessary to go after the thieves or order anti-corruption agencies to go after the evil cartel stealing the nation’s crude oil. When will Buhari truly fight corruption in Nigeria? Will it be after he leaves office in May 2023?”
