Atiku Alleges Nigeria Will Repay Afreximbank $3.3 Billion Loan with Crude worth $12b

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 presidential poll candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has raised questions on the $3.3 billion emergency crude loan sourced by Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) from Afreximbank.

Atiku in a statement alleged that intelligence at his disposal, indicates that Nigeria would repay the $3.3 billion loan with crude worth $12 billion.

According to the former Vice President, Nigeria’s under the deal would supply 164.25 million barrels of crude or 90,000 barrels of crude daily from 2024 to the creditor to fully repay the loan.

He asked the Tinubu administration to make public full details and terms of the emergency crude loan.

The NNPCL had approached the Cairo based Afreximbank for the loan as part of moves by the Tinubu administration to shore up liquidity to stabilize Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Market.

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Afreximbank remitted the first tranche of$2.25 billion out of the loan to NNPCL early this month, leaving a balance of over $1 billion.

Already, most of the remitted loan had been utilized in clearing some of the foreign backlog owed several foreign companies, including airlines.

Curiously also, Nigeria’s current Barrels Produced Daily (BPD) is 1.38 million, and according to the Project Gazelle deal, Nigeria is to supply 90,000 Barrels of its daily production, starting from 2024 till it is up to 164.25 million barrels for the repayment of the loan.

Now, this is where the details get disturbing because Nigeria’s benchmark for the sale of crude per barrel in 2024 is $77.96. A simple multiplication of that figure by 164.25 will give us a whooping $12bn.

It is on this note that we are calling on the Federal Government to speak up on this shady deal.

It is inconceivable that the Federal Government will lead the country to take a loan of $3.3b with an interest rate that is not more than 12 per cent, but with estimated repayment amounting to $12bn.