The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar has asked the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government to make the details of the $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan secured by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) accessible to the general public.
In a statement he released on his verified X page, the Former Vice President berated the Tinubu government for hiding necessary information on the loan from the citizens.
Atiku added that findings had shown that Nigeria would eventually pay crude oil worth $12billion in return for the $ 3.3billion which was purportedly secured to stabilise the exchange rate in the country.
Atiku’s statement reads in part: “According to information available, a Special Purpose Vehicle called Project Gazelle Funding Limited is driving the deal, and it was incorporated in the Bahamas.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
Atiku, therefore, said it would be unreasonable for Nigeria to take such loan with that kind of huge interest amid a series of social-economic problems currently facing the country.
He continued: “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.
“There are questions to be answered on the integrity of this deal, and we earnestly request the Federal Government to talk directly on these cloudy details behind the deal.
“We therefore demand, on behalf of the ordinary people of Nigeria, that the Federal Government provides answers to the following questions.
“1. Has the Federal Government accessed the loan?
2. Is the loan in the government’s borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly?
3. Who are the parties to the loan, and what specific roles are they expected to play?
4. What are the conditions to the loan, including tenor, repayment terms, the collateral, and the interest rate?
5. And, lastly, why register an SPV in the Bahamas knowing the recent scandal of the country’s notoriety for warehousing unclean assets?”
