The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has ordered the heads of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Department of Petroleum Resources and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency to provide the information being sought by a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on fuel importation and sundry matters, The Punch reports.

In his April 17, 2018 letter to the minister, Falana raised several concerns about the oil industry and asked Kachikwu to respond, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, adding that “your reply should be received within seven days of the receipt of this letter.”

Kachikwu told Falana in a letter dated April 21, 2018, with reference number, HMS/MPR/085/VOL.1/389, that he had directed the chief executives of the NNPC, DPR and PPPRA to furnish the lawyer with the information he requested, subject to the limits of the firms’ contractual, legal and business confidentiality.

In the response, which was personally signed by Kachikwu, he also stated that he never said the Federal Government was spending N1.4tn monthly as payment for under-recovery on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.

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