Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,  Mr Ibe Kachikwu, has revealed for the first time the response of President Muhammadu Buhari to the controversial memo on the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum  Corporation, Mr Maikanti Baru.

It would be recalled that the minister’s memo raised issues over the conduct of NNPC GMD on contracts and appointments.

Kachikwu, who spoke in Owerri, Imo State at the end of a three-day Nigerian Content Workshop organised by Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, said the content of his letter did not border on fraud but on governance.

He said, “The conversation has been largely misunderstood to bother on fraud. It was not on fraud, but on governance and suggestions on ways to go about it. I think a lot of people got it wrong.

“People dwell much on issues of sensationalism and leave the main substance. Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, and I are working together as Mr. President had directed to move forward.”

“Mr. President has urged the two of us to find ways of working together to remove doubt and rift.” He added,

“Mr. President is a decent man and what he wants to achieve in this country is to live a legacy for posterity. He is a sincere leader, so nobody should accuse him of engaging in fraud.”

He commended the management of NCDMB led by its Executive Secretary, Mr Simbi Wakote, for scoring high in her efforts to promote Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy.

Punch