FOLLOWING a series of tweets by his spokesman suggesting that he had indeed approved contentious contracts worth $25billion awarded by Dr Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said he only gave authorization for the procurement of two financing loans and not contracts.

His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, had explained on his verified Twitter handle @akandeoj, on Thursday that the contracts were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President recently.
He had said the Vice President approved the recommendations for the contracts as part of necessary actions to deal with the backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments.

He had initially said that he made the clarification in view of media enquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo.
The tweets stated: “In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence & adherence to established procedure. Action necessary to deal with a huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari adm. inherited and also to incentivize much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector.”

But in another statement issued after his tweets had been published, the spokesman quoted the Vice President as saying that he specifically gave approvals for financing arrangements for the Joint Ventures between the corporation and IOCs, and not approvals for contracts.

He said Osinbajo gave the clarification when approached by reporters after the ground-breaking multi-billion Naira historic Bonny-Bodo road project, in Bonny, Rivers State on Thursday.

The statement quoted Osinbajo as saying: “These were financing loans. Of course, you know what the Joint Ventures are, with the lOCs, like Chevron, that had to procure. In some cases, NNPC and their Joint Venture partners have to secure loans and they need authorisation to secure those loans while the President was away. The law actually provides for those authorisations.

In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence…

— Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) October 12, 2017
“So, I did grant two of them and those were presidential approvals, but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are loans not contracts.”
The statement referred to the earlier tweets but stopped short of denying the contents.

Recall that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu’s memo to President Muhammadu Buhari had surfaced in the media last week, indicating that he had been cut out from critical decision-making process which led to the award of $25billion contracts by the NNPC GMD.

He also accused Baru of reorganising the corporation without recourse to the Board of the NNPC.

Accusing the GMD of insubordination, the minister revealed that had been unable to have a one on one meeting with Buhari to state his case, hence the need to write him the leaked memo.

However, Baru has denied that the contracts, which he said had no monetary value attached, were unilaterally awarded as they had the approval of the president.

seunmsg:
Cleverly, the vice president just clarified the point i was trying to make on the other thread. What was approved was a financing arrangement and not a contract for procurement. Only FEC can approve procurement contract of over $20million for NNPC and not the president/acting president.

obonujoker:
Lol ....

Too many lies, too many games.....

They want to damage this man repute... APC eh, just accept Buhari is a crooked ole... stop bending the truth.....

Clerverly:


So it was not even a procurement contract, as we were misled to believe?

Ordinary joint venture agreement!

Mtcheww!

Keballl:
So the fact remains that Baru awarded illegal contracts. Folks like Blue3k should continue dancing Azonto over crumbs to support corrupt folks.

aolawale025:
Vice President Osinbajo Denies Approving 'Contracts' But Two Loans

Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says he approved two loans for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and not contracts.

Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande had earlier said that the VP approved contracts for NNPC.

Akande said the contracts were approved after due diligence by the Vice President when he acted as President recently.

The VP’s aide said his principal approved the recommendations for the contracts as part of necessary actions to deal with the backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments.

Akande said Prof. Osinbajo made the clarification in view of media enquiries that followed NNPC’s claim that the contracts were indeed approved by Osinbajo.

The VP’s aide tweeted: “In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo, as Ag President approved recommendations after due diligence & adherence to established procedure.

“Action necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari adm inherited and also to incentivise much needed fresh investments in the oil & gas sector,” Akande had tweeted.

Reacting to the statement on Tuesday in Bonny Island where he flagged off the Bodo-Bonny Road, Rivers state, Osinbajo said he granted loans and not contracts.

His words: ” They were financing loans, joint venture loans, that have procured so in some cases NNPC ventures have to secure loans and they need the authorization to secure those loans.

“While the President was away, I granted authorization which is what the law provides.

“The law actually provides for that authorization, so I did grant all of those, in fact, there were two of them but those are presidential approvals but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are Loans not Contracts”, the Vice President added.



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JUST IN: Vice President Osinbajo Denies Approving 'Contracts' But Two Loans
https://aledeh.com/just-in-vice-president-osinbajo-denies-approving-contracts-but-two-loans/

seunmsg:
Cleverly, the vice president just clarified the point i was trying to make on the other thread. What was approved was a financing arrangement and not a contract for procurement. Only FEC can approve procurement contract of over $20million for NNPC and not the president/acting president.

This clarification from the vice president is reassuring. It would have been a blow to the anti corruption posture of this government if they had continued defending the initial story that the acting president has the power to approve contract within the approval limit threshold of FEC.

Clerverly:
[s][/s]

Did you even read article? The so called 514Billion Naira Contract being bandied about was just an Ordinary joint Venture Loan Between NNPC and Shell and NNPC and Chevron!

Go school , you go dey follow Nnamdi Kanu up and down!

eagleeye2:

Please provide a good source for this topic to fly.

IPOBrep:


where did you see spdc and chevron in the write up ?

Clerverly:


What do you want fly? is it lack of comprehension or what? That so called contract of 514Billion is nothing but a loan!

smh!

Clerverly:


President Muhammadu Buhari was granting approvals for oil deals to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation during the time he was on his sick bed in London – and when he had relinquished presidential powers to his Vice President – the head, Maikanti Baru, has indicated.

Mr. Baru said Mr. Buhari approved at least two separate oil contracts on July 10 and July 31 worth $1 billion and $780 million, respectively.
The N640.8 billion contracts (at N360/$ exchange rate) were approved when Mr. Buhari was receiving treatment for undisclosed ailments in London, and when he was not supposed to be exercising presidential powers, having named Vice President Yemi Osinbajo acting president in a formal correspondence to the National Assembly.
Mr. Buhari was flown to London on May 7, barely two months after he returned from his first 2017 medical vacation which saw him spend 50 days in the United Kingdom.

On May 9, a letter Mr. Buhari wrote to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate notifying them that he had relinquished presidential authorities in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution was read on the floor of both chambers.
Despite rumours of his early return, Mr. Buhari ultimately spent 103 days receiving treatment in London, returning on August 19.
On August 21, the president notified the National Assembly of his return in writing, saying he had “resumed” his “functions as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with effect from Monday, 21st August, 2017.”
THE CONTRACTS


But on Monday, Mr. Baru revealed that Mr. Buhari had been exercising presidential powers by granting approvals for NNPC joint venture contracts when he was supposedly on his sickbed and not exercising presidential powers.
Mr. Baru gave details of the contracts as follows:
Search:
S/N PROJECT Amount (US$mn) APPROVALS LOAN EXECUTED BY
NTB PRESIDENTIAL
1. NNPC/CNL JV Project Cheetah 1200 16/04/15 01/09/15 Dr. E. I. Kachikwu
2. NNPC/CNL JV Project Falcon 780 26/04/17 31/07/17 Dr. M. K. Baru
3. NNPC/SPDC JV Project Santolina 1000 26/04/17 10/07/17 Dr. M. K. Baru
TOTAL 2980
Showing 1 to 5 of 5 entries

(CNL refers to Chevron Nigeria Limited, SPDC to Shell Petroleum Development Company and JV to Joint Venture).
The disclosures were made when the NNPC responded – on behalf of Mr. Baru – to the allegations of contract fraud and insubordination raised by Ibe Kachikwu.
Mr. Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, had in an August 30 memo to Mr. Buhari said Mr. Baru unilaterally approved contracts without recourse to him or the NNPC board, amongst other concerns. The memo surfaced on social media on October 3, sending ripples through the country’s polity.
On October 9, the NNPC responded to Mr. Kachikwu’s allegations by publishing the above contract details, which it said was at the instance of Mr. Buhari, who had kept mum since the scandal broke.
But a look at the dates of the three contracts shows that two of them received presidential approval on dates Mr. Buhari was not in the country, July 31 for the second contract with Chevron Nigeria and July 10 for the contract with Shell. Mr. Baru’s name was placed against the contracts as the person who administered the contract in his capacity as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC.
Ibe Kachikwu [Photo Credit: THISDAYLIVE]
Only the September 1, 2015, contract which Mr. Kachikwu oversaw during his tenure as the GMD of NNPC received presidential approval on a date Mr. Buhari was in the country and wielding presidential powers.
A compilation of Mr. Buhari’s travels reveals that he was in the country from early August 2015 when he returned from Cotonou until September 7 when he visited Accra.
But while it is clear that the presidential approval granted when Mr. Kachikwu was the head of NNPC happened when Mr. Buhari was exercising presidential powers; it appeared like Mr. Baru received his approval when Mr. Buhari was in London.
GETTING OSINBAJO’S CONSENT
In his memo to Mr. Buhari, Mr. Kachikwu stated that when Mr. Buhari was unwell in London for several months between May and August, Mr. Baru tried to get direct approval from Acting President Osinbajo for some personnel changes at the NNPC.


But Mr. Osinbajo asked Mr. Baru to go back to Mr. Kachikwu and get his input and approval first before making the changes. Mr. Baru refused to consult Mr. Kachikwu on that.
For weeks, the changes were not made, until Mr. Buhari returned on August 19. By August 29, Mr. Baru announced the changes.


When PREMIUM TIMES reminded him of potential legal implications of Mr. Buhari exercising presidential powers even when he had relinquished same in accordance with the constitution, Mr. Ughamadu dug his heels in.
“Presidential approval is presidential approval,” the spokesperson insisted.

For several hours on Tuesday, presidential spokespersons Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ requests seeking their comments about this and other problematic parts of the NNPC revelations.
Sola Adebawo, Director of Communications at Chevron, did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ requests for comments Tuesday evening. His counterpart at Shell Nigeria, Bamidele Odugbesan, simply told PREMIUM TIMES to “direct enquiries to relevant government authorities.”
Maikanti Baru
Yet, the N640.8 billion oil contracts might not be the only one Mr. Baru got Mr. Buhari to approve while he was still unwell in London.



https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/245722-buhari-approved-n640-billion-oil-contracts-sick-bed-london-nnpc-chief-baru-indicates.html

Clerverly:


Did you even read article? The so called 514Billion Naira Contract being bandied about was just an Ordinary joint Venture Loan Between NNPC and Shell and NNPC and Chevron!

Go school , you go dey follow Nnamdi Kanu up and down!

HITTED:
[s][/s]

Zombie, read and assimilate before you belch. At least, someone is paying you stipends for barking APC praises online.

There's nothing clear in the article. Osibanjo said he approved 2 joint venture loans for NNPC between Shell and Chevron but never quoted any figure. Or you can point me to where N640 billion was stated.

HITTED:
[s]

Zombie, read and assimilate before you belch. At least, someone is paying you stipends for barking APC praises online.

There's nothing clear in the article. Osibanjo said he approved 2 joint venture loans for NNPC between Shell and Chevron but never quoted any figure. Or you can point me to where N514 billion was stated.

Clerverly:


Ipob yoot, the so called contract, was the joint Venture loan bewteen NNPC, shell AND CHEVRON valued at 630 Billion! It was not a procurement contract, as you were to believe! Deluded ipob yoot!

Clerverly:
[s][/s]

Did you even read article? The so called 640Billion Naira Contract being bandied about was just an Ordinary joint Venture Loan Between NNPC and Shell and NNPC and Chevron!

Go school , you go dey follow Nnamdi Kanu up and down!