The Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG), Sunday warned those it described as “saboteurs and their cohorts” to stopped their sustained unwarranted smear campaign against the landmark achievements and the continued progress of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari.
The group, during a press briefing in Abuja, said it became imperative in the face of peddled gross misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations on oil pipeline rehabilitation as well as surveillance contracts which has now been adopted as a weapon of choice in the hands of these unpatriotic elements.
The President, Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG), Comrade Domnic Ogakwu, hinted that 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, Mallam Mele Kyari, in order to push him out of office and have unfettered access to seize and manipulate state resources to their personal advantage.
Ogakwu, explained that 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.
“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 Mallam Kyari assumed office, remains rigorous in line with industry norms.”
According to him, “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. Findings show that the winning companies do not suggest otherwise.”
Furthermore, “we are 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.”
Continuing, Ogwaku maintained 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,” he said.