BY MYKE UZENDU, ABUJA
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the federal government to explain why the country should enter a Crude for Cash Transaction at the deal with a 12 percent interest rate and with a company registered in Bahamas.
Atiku in a statement he personally signed on Thursday said that the Tinubu-led administration on August 16, 2023 through the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) secured a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan, which according to the NNPC, was to help give support to the Naira and stabilize the Foreign Exchange market but with estimated repayment amounting to $12bn.
Atiku wondered why NNPC should seal a deal with an interest of about $7b and which may even become higher because of the free fall of the naira. He said that the deal is supposed to be a crude-for-cash loan arranged by the African Export-Import Bank through a Special Purpose Vehicle called Project Gazelle Funding Limited, incorporated in the Bahamas.
He said that the SPV is the borrower while the NNPC is the sponsor, with an agreement to pay with crude oil to the SPV in order to liquidate the loan at an interest rate that is a little over 12 per cent.
He said that what is even more confounding about this deal is why the Federal Government would register a company in the Bahamas, knowing full well the recent scandal of the Paradise Papers that involved that country.
He said, “The curious thing about this transaction is that up till now, the Federal Government continues to keep mum about it, and the only information available to the public on the mega deal is coming only through unofficial sources from the NNPC.
“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 from 2024 till 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 whooping $12bn.
“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 per cent, but with 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”.
The Presidential Candidate of the PDP in the 2024 general election said that there are questions to be answered on the integrity of the deal and requested that the Federal Government should talk directly on the deal and disclose those that facilitated it.
He said that governemt should also provide answers on the following: “Has the Federal Government accessed the loan? Is the loan in the government’s borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly? Who are the parties to the loan, and what specific roles are they expected to play? What are the conditions to the loan, including tenor, repayment terms, the collateral, and the interest rate?
“And, lastly, why register an SPV in the Bahamas knowing the recent scandal of the country’s notoriety for warehousing unclean assets?”