Obiageli Ezekwesili, the former minister of education, has urged President Bola Tinubu to start an impartial audit of the NNPC and Dangote Refinery transactions right away.
Ezekwesili insisted that it is in the best interests of the country to do this and said that it is vital to inform the public of the actual condition of events.
The former minister said in a statement posted on her X handle on Monday that there is evidence to suggest that something very shady has happened and that it must be thoroughly investigated in order to hold the public accountable.
“I kept quiet about the Dangote refinery-NNPC saga because I really believe that evidence should always guide our opinions,” the woman stated.
But as more and more details from both sides come to light, it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that something very shady has occurred and needs to be thoroughly investigated in order to hold the public accountable. Additionally, urgently.
“How can a project that, by definition, became a “national interest project” be tarnished by such a serious and humiliating dispute that is being played out in front of the local and global investment community?
“Did the @NigeriaGov fail to disclose to us that it obtained a $3.3 billion loan from AFREXIM Bank in order to acquire a portion of the Dangote refinery?”
“I frequently reminded the @nnpclimited leadership throughout our time in government that just because they consider themselves to be “the goose that lays the golden egg,” they cannot continue to act as though there is a “Federal Republic of the NNPC.”
“We took great pleasure in creating the Multi-Stakeholders Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative @nigeriaeiti in the early 2000s, which I spearheaded as Chairperson, because of the NNPC’s opacity.” By enshrining our transparency criteria in an Act that designated NEITI as the Oil and Minerals sector’s Transparency Regulator, we went above and beyond the minimum voluntary standards set globally.
In order to provide the public with the accurate picture of the situation, the @NGRPresident has a duty to Nigerians to promptly employ NEITI’s assistance to start an impartial audit of the Dangote Refinery-NNPC transactions. Doing so is in the best interests of the country.