Protesters on Tuesday stormed the Office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice, AGF, to demand probe and prosecution of the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Limited, Engr. Mele Kyari.

Operating under the aegis of Concerned Citizens Against Corruption, the group urged the Justice Minister to investigate activities of Kyari in the past five years in the agency which he headed.
Convener of the group, Kabir Matazu said Kyari and the entire Board members were removed from office in a single swoop by President Bola Tinubu due to brazen corruption and expressed disappointment that the former NNPCL’s management staff have not been probed.

The group pointed out that the rehabilitation and recommissioning of Nigeria’s refineries were fraudulently done where billion of dollars went down the drain, noting that if investigation is carried out, they were sure of ‘can of worms opening’.

The group expressed disappointment that the NNPCL was indebted to Matrix Energy to the tune of over $2 billion, in exchange for daily crude oil production allocation to defray the debt.

“It is on record that the removal of the erstwhile leadership of the NNPCL was widely applauded by Nigerians, especially groups like ours that have been at the forefront of demanding accountability and transparency in the management of institutions,” Matazu said.

“It is also notable that Kyari’s leadership of the NNPCL was plagued by numerous allegations of corruption due to a lack of transparency. Nigerians are disillusioned that the President has only stopped at removing the former leadership without initiating steps to investigate Kyari and his team’s management of the organisation. A key issue is the alleged fraud surrounding the rehabilitation and re-commissioning of government-owned refineries. The figures and facts simply do not add up.

“In addition to the billions of dollars claimed to have been spent on refinery repairs, Kyari’s administration also alleged that Matrix Energy Limited invested $400 million in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt Refinery, even though the Federal Executive Council approved $1.5 billion for the same facility.

“More perplexingly, the NNPCL is now reportedly indebted to Matrix Energy by over $2 billion. This debt is being serviced through daily crude oil allocations to Matrix Energy, for which no payments are being made.

“This situation raises urgent questions: Why and how is the Federal Government, through the NNPCL, indebted to Matrix Energy for $2 billion? Why is the debt being serviced with daily crude oil supplies? Who were the parties involved in negotiating this deal? Why are Nigerians being kept in the dark about these agreements.”

The group also emphasised that addressing these issues would enable the Federal Government to account for how public resources were used under Kyari’s leadership.

“An investigation into these transactions would help the government identify funds that need to be recovered and from whom, especially considering Nigeria’s dire economic condition.

“Furthermore, such an investigation would ensure that the current leadership is held accountable and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past”, Matazu said.

The group urged the AGF to immediately review all agreements entered into by the NNPCL during Kyari’s administration.

“This investigation should uncover the Federal Government’s financial losses and recommend actionable steps to recover these funds. We demand an immediate judicial review,” Matazu stated.

There has been increase in crude oil production in recent times as Nigeria’s daily average production hits over 1.43 million barrels per day in January 2024 with a difference of 91,000 increase from the1.34million barrels recorded in December 2023.

Also, the average daily amount of blended and unblended condensates for the month are 58,000 and 159,000 barrels respectively. This puts the total average of liquid daily at 1.64 million.

Despite not being able to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) daily quota, Nigeria has since August 2023, maintained steady increase in production except for November when its output dropped to 1.25million b/d from 1.35million b/d recorded in October.

According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) monthly oil production report, the country produced 44 million barrels of crude oil and by adding the blended and unblended condensates, this puts the total liquid produced in January, 2024 at 51million barrels.

The Minister of Petroleum (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, had last year, expressed the government’s commitment to increasing its daily production to over 2 million barrels per day.

According to him, issues of theft and pipeline vandalism were major factors hindering it from attaining increased production.

However, he said the government was working towards addressing these problems.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has uncovered 223 fresh illegal connections and refineries within the Niger Delta region.

The incidents were recorded between the 10th and 16th of February 2024.

This was disclosed by the Company in its weekly report on war against crude oil theft.

According to the Company, Matron Engineering facilities reported 27 incidents, 21 by Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company facilities 7, four by Tantita Security Services Ltd, and 156 by government security agencies.
It further disclosed that an oil pit feeding directly from an oil source was discovered in Okirika, Rivers State, adding that 20 illegal connections were discovered across several locations in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States.

The Company noted that so far, 52 suspects have been arrested adding that 8 of these incidents were recorded in deep blue waters, 32 in the western region, 123 in the central region, and 60 in the eastern region part of the Niger Delta.

“For NNPC Limited, there is no backing down on the war on crude oil theft until the menace is eradicated,” it said