Explain NNPCL $3.3bn loan, Atiku asks Tinubu’s govt

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday asked President Bola Tinubu to account for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)’s $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan.

Last August, the NNPCL secured a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan from the African Export-Import Bank to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Government received $2.25 billion out of the $3.3 billion FX facility from the African Export-Import Bank.

But reacting to the deal in a statement, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wondered why the only information available to the public on the mega-deal is coming only through sources from the NNPCL. He claimed that a Special Purpose Vehicle called Project Gazelle Funding Limited is driving the deal, and it was incorporated in the Bahamas.

“SPV is the borrower while the NNPCL 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.

“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.

“It is on this note that we are calling on the Federal Government to speak up on this shady deal. 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 percent, 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 statement read.

Atiku insisted that there are questions to be answered on the integrity of this deal, and charged the Federal Government to talk directly on details behind the deal.