From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Presidency has, again, debunked claims that neither $25 billion worth of oil contracts were awarded by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) nor is such fund missing from the firm.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, in yet another statement, yesterday, insisted no contracts were procured by the NNPC, based on a leaked memo of the Minister of State on Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.

Akande said a closer look at each of the said projects indicated clearly that “these are not procurement contracts.”

He reiterated that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved joint venture financing arrangements as acting president and did not award contracts worth N640 billion as erroneously reported.

The presidential media aide submitted said: “When you look diligently at the referenced projects/transactions one by one, you will see, as NNPC has shown, that none of them was actually a procurement contract.

“Take both the Crude Term Contract and the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP) agreements, for instance; these are not procurement contracts involving the expenditure of public funds. Both transactions are simply a shortlisting process, in which prospective off-takers of crude oil and suppliers of petroleum are selected under agreed terms, and in accordance with due process.”

He said: “As you now know, the Minister of Petroleum Resources himself has, in fact, clarified that he meant to focus on administrative and governance issues and not red-flag any fraud, because, no fraud exists in this matter.”

For both transactions, Akande said it was inaccurate to attach $10 billion and $5 billion values on them. “Attaching monetary values to these contracts is an arbitrary act that completely distorts understanding of the situation.”

Akande further stressed that Nigerians ought to be informed clearly that “whenever there is a monetary value on any consignment of crude oil lifted in this country by any firm, the proceeds go directly to the Federation Account and not to any company. In fact, the Buhari administration, in the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), has closed down multiple NNPC accounts in order to promote transparency and probity.”