Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has queried why the Federal Government would cut a deal repaying $3.3billion emergency crude loan secured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, facilitated by Export-Import Bank, Afrieximbank, in 2022, with crude oil worth $12 billion.
Atiku describing the deal as ‘confounding’, claimed that President Bola Tinubu owed Nigerians an explanation on why his government would consider repaying the $3.3billion loan, with an interest rate of not more than 12%, with the nation’s crude oil worth $12 billion.
He also quizzed why the Federal Government would register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the deal in the Bahamas, a country notorious for being a safe haven for illicit funds.
Recall that the landmark loan deal was sealed in the wake of the free fall of the local currency (Naira) against the United States Dollar, with NNPCL claiming that the agreement was reached in order to shore up the weakening naira, and stabilize the Foreign Exchange market.
The former presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the last election tweeted on his ‘X’ handle (formerly Twitter), on Thursday, berating the Tinubu administration for keeping silent over the deal, adding that he was curious to know what informed the decision by the government.