Group calls for arrest, prosecution of Mele Kyari over alleged economic sabotage

…faults 1.5 m b/d by NUPRC, insist it is 1mb/d excluding condensate

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

A group, the Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) has again called on President Bola Tinubu to sack, arrest and investigate the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) Mr Mele Kyari over alleged economic sabotage.

According to the MSDND, the recent series of conflicting claims and data released by Kyari on the state of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) at the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries and the unexplainable difficulty faced by the NNPCL by the Dangote Refineries to access crude oil showed that Kyari and his cohorts are allegedly behind cases of economic sabotage.

“The claims presented by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Monday are made up of manufactured data and are falsely meant to deceive the President and the nation. NUPRC stated that crude oil production increased from 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in May 2024 to 1.5 million bpd in June 2024. Nigeria produced 1.27 million bpd within these periods, and if condensate is removed, then the country only produced about 1 million bpd.

“According to the Monthly Oil Market Report for June by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), quoting direct sources, Nigeria’s oil production for June is 1.276 million bpd.

“Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production fell to 1.25 million bpd in May 2024, a 2.34% decrease from 1.28 million bpd recorded in April 2024.

“Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) stated that crude oil export was at 1.32 million bpd in February 2024 and 1.23 million bpd in March 2024. Nigeria recorded a $3.2 billion loss in Q1 (January – March 2024),” MSDND stated.

The group also claimed that senior officials of the NNPCL have hinted that the show of desperation and falsification of data is meant to lie and deceive the Presidency and President Bola Tinubu to keep the crude oil sabotage ongoing and to elongate their stay in office.

“The continued stay in office of the NNPCL Group Managing Director, Kyari despite his years of failures will continue to jeopardise any directives of President Bola Tinubu for the security agencies to tackle oil theft in the region. There is an urgent need to investigate the likes of Kyari and their cartel over their culpability in the alleged massive oil theft that is crippling the nation’s economy before it’s too late,” it said.

The MSDND, through its Publicity Secretary, Kelvin Orughoe, in a statement further argued that the recent claims of new start-off dates for the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries, the claims of rising cases of illegal pipeline connections and illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region and the lopsided explanation on the NNPCL position on Dangote Refineries seeking crude from other African countries rather than Nigeria are signs of desperation.

“Mr Mele Kyari and his cohorts should be sacked and arrested to save Nigeria from economic sabotage and collapse. All of a sudden Mele Kyari and company suddenly remembered that they needed to ensure that the expected TAM at the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries works.

“The false wake-up call by Kyari was after we publicly faulted the outburst of the NNPCL that their manufactured data are not consistent with what is on the ground in the Niger Delta region and is a false battle cry meant to deceive and distract President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian public,” Orughoe added.

The NNPCL and Kyari had also in a press statement claimed to have uncovered 38 illegal pipeline connections and 108 illegal refineries between June 22 and June 28. They also claimed that the war on crude oil theft is in full swing and that the NNPCL’s collaborations with security agencies continue to record remarkable progress.

“We have argued that the deceitful outburst by the NNPCL is from an old playbook that has been used to deceive Nigerians every year during the past eight years by the same NNPCL. They used the same fraudulent scheme to deceive former President Muhammadu Buhari into agreeing to the non-remittance of billions of dollars from crude oil sales into Federal Government coffers for over seven months.

“We are writing to President Bola Tinubu not to be deceived by the false battle cry by the NNPCL using non-existence numbers of illegal refineries and the so-called massive oil theft activities in the creeks of the Niger Delta. These NNPCL acclaimed sites of 38 illegal pipeline connections and 108 illegal refineries do not exist in the creeks of the Niger Delta region.

“President Tinubu should take a second look at the numbers presented by the NNPCL and Mr Mele Kyari because these are falsified numbers that don’t exist. If these numbers of illegal bunkering and illegal refining sites exist, how then do the people in the Niger Delta region breathe? Instead of presenting false figures, Mele Kyari and his cohorts in the NNPCL should tell Nigerians the truth about where the real leakages of Nigeria’s crude oil exist.”

The group reiterated its challenge to the NNPCL and its Group Chief Executive, Kyari to provide President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians with the details of the $1.9 billion monthly loss claim made in Asaba, Delta State in 2021 during a meeting with former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. Instead, they have resorted to the old tricks in their playbook to deceive Nigerians and not make returns to the Federal Government.

“Mele Kyari and the NNPCL are inconsistent with their facts. They twist facts at their whim and caprices. Recent OPEC data exposes that Nigeria’s crude oil production has dipped to 1.25 million barrels per day including Condensate. But when you remove Condensate, then the nation’s crude oil production is about one million barrels per day, down from two million barrels per day when Mr Mele Kyari was appointed as NNPC GMD. Why is it that it was when Mele Kyari was appointed NNPC GMD that our nation’s crude oil production started going down drastically, given the fact that these are the most peaceful periods in the Niger Delta region?

“Now, we are in 2024, they are still using the same distortion of facts and their old playbook. They know where the leakages are coming from. How can they just wake up, after the spirited efforts of the Nigerian Navy, other security agencies and other partners to present such disgraceful data? How can the Nation’s crude suddenly drop from its rising height to a disgraceful 1 million barrels per day.”

The group also noted that the NNPCL and Kyari should be investigated over the $1.2 billion loan procured in 2021 to revamp the Port Harcourt refinery. “The Port Harcourt refinery is still not working after receiving a $1.2 billion loan in 2021. Where is the money?” Also, under the leadership of Kyari as the NNPCL GMD, billions of dollars in loans were procured to revamp the Kaduna refinery and other refineries across the country, where are the billions of dollars or the functioning refineries? Rather, we keep seeing and hearing doctored figures and lies from the NNPCL for over eight (8) years while Nigerians buy fuel at about N700 per litre.

“Recently, between January and March 2024, OPEC data showed that the nation’s crude oil production decreased, and Nigeria lost over $3 billion within three months. If such money is stolen in the Niger Delta region as claimed by the NNPCL, Nigerians would notice or see the money in the lives of the Niger Delta people. Instead, hardship and abject poverty are what is being experienced across the Niger Delta.

“The NNPCL Kyari are the cause of hardship to over 200 million Nigerians, and they are making President Tinubu’s administration look bad. The NNPCL and its GMD Mr Mele Kyari have failed woefully.

“Enough is enough! The NNPCL and Mr Mele Kyari should stop using the people of the Niger Delta to cover up their white-collar administrative oil theft and bunkering. President Tinubu should take a bold step and tackle the rot within the NNPCL and Mr Mele Kyari led group,” the statement read.