Chineo Obogo
A Non-Governmental Organisation, Accountable Leadership for Better Nigeria Initiative (ALBN), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, over his statement that the government would not be able to recover the $62 billion debt owed by oil companies.
Executive Director of the organisation, Remi Adebayo, said if the statement allegedly credited to Sylva was true, then he should be relieved of his duties, saying it is an indication of his “disloyalty” to the country.
“Our attention has been drawn to the statement credited to Mr. Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, published in Vanguard Newspaper of Thursday 17 October 2019 on ‘why FG can’t recover $62 billion from international oil companies.While answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Sylva was reported to have said referring to the duly calculated $62 billion, now owed to Nigeria by the oil companies, ‘Let us consider that as a lost opportunity, the money was not in a cupboard, they have taken it. Nobody can bring out that kind of money. I mean we can’t get $62 billion.”