$4bn Refineries Spend: Protesters Insist on Mele Kyari’s Probe, Storm Ministry of Finance Headquarters

Group of protesters and lawyers on Monday stormed the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja, submitting a petition to demand the probe the tenure and spendings of Mele Kyari, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).

The petitioners under the aegis of the Guardian of Democracy and Rule of Law alleged that Kyari’s leadership was marked with monumental corruption, tax evasion, abuse of office, and misappropriation of public funds, particularly in the spending of over $4billion on refineries repairs.

Speaking for the protesters, Barrister Benjamin Theophilus claimed that the amount spent on refineries repairs was inflated, citing a proposal by a consortium of private sector firms to repair the three refineries for about $1billion.

The petition highlighted several areas of concern, including fraudulent allocation of crude oil proceeds, misappropriation of funds in the AKK Gas Pipeline Project, fuel subsidy fraud, and value review for NNPCL’s crude-backed loans.

“Mele Kyari is alleged to have collaborated with certain consultants and contractors involved in the refineries rehabilitation projects to conceal the actual cost of the contracts and evade taxes due to the Federal Government,” the petition stated.

“Seven years ago, there was a proposal by a consortium of private sector firms to repair the 3 refineries, with a total capacity of 445 kbpd (thousand barrels per day) for about $1 billion.

“NNPCL under Mele Kyari has expended $1.5 billion on the Port Harcourt Refinery, $1.5 billion on the Warri Refinery and $1 billion on the Kaduna Refinery bringing the total of what Kyari spent on the refineries to more than $4 billion as opposed to the $1 billion that the consortium has requested for all the refineries.