Group demands arrest, trial of NNPCL boss, Mele Kyari, over alleged sabotage
Story from Uji A. ILIYASU
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 from 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 actually produced 1.27 million bpd within these periods, and if condensate is removed, then the country only produced about 1million bpd.
“According to the Monthly Oil Market Report for June by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), quoting direct sources, Nigeria’s oil production for June is 1.276 million bpd.
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“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 in order 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 and all 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 its too late.”
Proofreading, editing by Uji A Iliyasu, Editor at Neptune Prime
