$6.8bn debt: APC youths call for immediate sack of NNPCL boss Kyari

Some members of the ruling All Progressive Congress, under the aegis of the APC Youth Solidarity Network, have called for the removal of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari.

The call, according to the party group, followed the revelation that the oil company owed $6.8 billion in debt.

Spokesperson of the company, Olufemi Soneye, admitted on Sunday that the firm was strained by fuel supply costs.

He confirmed a report that the prolonged scarcity of fuel across Nigeria was caused by the $6.8 billion debt owed by NNPCL to international oil suppliers.

Speaking on the matter at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Olalekan Isaac, the President of the APC youths group, alleged that Kyari’s tenure is “full of leadership failure.”

Isaac also expressed dismay over the initial denial by the company that it was not owing any debt, alleging that there is no transparency in the oil sector.

“We, the APC Youth Solidarity Network, resolutely maintain that the time has arrived for Mr Mele Kyari to assume full responsibility for this leadership failure. It is imperative that he relinquish his position, thereby sparing our nation further international embarrassment and ridicule,” he said.

“It means the entire hogwash that the company is doing under Kyari is a big lie and should be condemned by all citizens.”

“Mr Kyari’s protracted occupation of office has devolved into an unrelenting source of embarrassment, tarnishing the reputation of our esteemed party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Nigerian people,” he added.