Buhari keeps mum as N9 trillion contract scandal rocks NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to clear the air about grievous allegations of abuse of contract process to the tune of N9 trillion naira at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, more than 24 hours after leakage of an internal memo which detailed the allegation.

Presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not pick or return calls, or respond to text messages on the matter despite concerns expressed by Nigerians and activists.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, detailed the questionable deals when he alerted the president to the activities of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru.

In the August 30 correspondence, Mr. Kachikwu said Mr. Baru circumvented extant procurement regulations in awarding a series of contracts up to $25 billion —or N9 trillion at prevailing exchange rate of N360 to a dollar— warning of grave consequences the decisions could wreak if allowed to stand.

The letter appeared on the Internet around noon Tuesday, but no one has claimed credits for its leakage.

Mr. Kachikwu gave a breakdown of the contracts said to have been awarded without recourse to the Ministry of Petroleum or the management board of the NNPC; including $10 billion crude term contracts; $5 billion direct sales direct purchase (DSDP) contracts and $3 billion AKK pipeline contract.

He also said a $3 billion was awarded as a contract for various financing allocation funding contract and another $3-4 billion NPDC production service contracts. Read more Here