Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday attributed the Federal Government’s cancellation of a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the management of the Port-Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries approved by the Obasanjo government in 2007 to the questionable circumstances surrounding the deal.
Falana, responding to the Thursday statement by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on how his successor, the Late Umaru Yar Adua, refunded the $750 million paid by a consortium to run the refineries, said the deal lacked transparency.
The activist, in a statement issued on behalf of Alliance on Surviving Covid and Beyond (ASCAB), recalled how Obasanjo “in utter breach” of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act, allegedly sidelined vice-president Atiku Abubakar, who was the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), and “took over the privatisation of a number of public enterprises”.
The NCP was established to oversee the privatisation and commercialisation of public enterprises.
According to Falana: “On May 17, 2007, President Obasanjo sold a 51% stake in the Port Harcourt refinery to Bluestar Oil for US$561 million. In another transaction that took place on May 28, 2007, President Obasanjo sold 51% shares in Kaduna Refinery to Bluestar Oil for $160 million”.
