The coalition of civil societies known as the Conference of Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG), has warned blackmailers to stop the meaningless agitations as well as the repeated threats against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari.
The Group gave the warning during a World Press Conference held in Abuja.
While reading the text of the press briefing, President of the group, Mr. Dominick Ogakwu, said the press briefing has become imperative in the face of sustained unwarranted smear campaign against the landmark achievements and the continued progress of NNPC Limited in some section of the media, as it charts the course to becoming the dynamic global energy company.
He said that peddling gross misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations on oil pipeline rehabilitation as well as surveillance contracts has now been adopted as a weapon of choice in the hands of these unpatriotic elements.
“It is obvious to all well-meaning Nigerians that some wolves are expending a lot of negative energies to discredit the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Malam Mele Kyari, in order to push him out of office and have unfettered access to seize and manipulate state resources to their personal advantage. The recent attempts are not new and amount to red herring when there is absolutely no need or iota of facts about the allegations. The claim of “quietly awarding the control of Nigeria’s pipelines to a Northern oil cabal” is not only fallacious, figment of the writers and their sponsors’ imagination but cowardly and begs the question,” Mr. Ogakwu said.
He said that the group was not unmindful that some individuals are double bent on creating mountains out of nothing over the award of pipeline surveillance contracts to qualified and performing entities and not them.
“First, for those who understands contracting process and are willing to be unbiased in their judgement, to award such a contract requires tender notices in form of advertisements which were made public for qualified companies to bid. The process for the contracts awards, as has been the case since Malam Kyari assumed office, remains rigorous in line with industry norms. Each bidding company has been subjected to a competitive tender selection process as guided by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and a transaction advisor. These regulatory institutions had to also worked with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Ministry of Justice in the project development and evaluation exercise. So, it stands against reasoning that after such a rigorous process, anything untoward will be suggested by any rational mind,” he added.
According to him, findings show that the winning companies do not suggest otherwise as seen below:
LOT 1: Oilserve Ltd, Chu Kong Steel Pipe Group Company Ltd, Saudi Crown Oilserve.
LOT 2: MacReady Oil and Gas Services, COBRA Instalicios S.A, Control Y Montajes Industriales & International De Pipelines, Iron Products Industries Ltd, Batelitwin Global Services Ltd, Bauen Empresa Constructora SAU, Sanderton Energy Ltd, The Spanish National Association of Manufacturers.
LOT 3: A A Rano, Zakhem Construction Nigeria, Bablinks Resources Ltd, VAE Controls S.R.O.
LOT 4: MRS Oil and Gas, CPPE Nigeria Ltd,” he explained.
The group noted that “Pipeline surveillance is not a tea party as recent events have shown. Therefore, being an ex-militant is not enough qualification to be awarded such a critical task. The priority of NNPC Limited is to ensure a safe and secure oil infrastructure and functional pipeline corridor to sustainably deliver national production targets. There is nothing personal to Mele Kyari and management NNPC Limited, rather than what is possible and best for the country.”
Adding that since his appointment in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari as GCEO of the NNPC Limited, the successor company to the NNPC, Malam Kyari has been guided by his “Roadmap to Global Excellence” anchored on the principles of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE).
He stressed that on the issue of refineries, the timeline of December remains for the Port Harcourt refinery to be back on stream and ameliorate the present difficulty occasioned by a spike in forex.
“We urge those who are hell bent to undermine the transformative leadership of President Bola Tinubu to have a rethink and stop the meaningless agitations and threats. Rather they can add a positive voice to support the progress and growth of NNPC Limited under the patriotic leadership of Mele Kyari.”
