The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has said that those attacking him were doing so because of the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector.
Sylva, who gave the clarification during an interactive section with journalists, in Abuja, on Tuesday, discountenanced claims by some individuals that he and other government officials shared $100 million from signature bonuses by winners of marginal field rounds.
“very clearly the information that has been put out there is clearly sponsored. It cannot be true. For example, I read on social media that I collected $25 million from Saipem to give them a job. By the time I became a minister, that job had been given to Saipem, how come I am the one that is now going to collect $25million from Saipem. And you know $25million is no small money,” he said.
“Unfortunately, when this kind of story comes out, you are minded to just want to discountenance it saying nobody is going to believe it. But we are in a country where people tend to believe anything. It’s so sad”.
“Then I read again that I have been given $20million from an OML that was valued for $13million. The signature bonus paid on the OML was $13million. This is the value and beside that you are paying me $20million?. You are still minded to discountenance this but people tend to believe.
“And then of course most recently; that i collected $100million and shared on a signature bonus. How much did the whole process generate that we are going to share a hundred million dollars. And of course, signature bonuses because of the latest directives were paid in naira mostly. So, how come people have $100million? These kinds of stories are out there and people tend to believe the sensational everytime.
“And I thought maybe I need to put a few things straight, and to let you know that such stories you are all aware of are sponsored by people who want to tarnish my image,” he explained Further.
SOURCE: thebridgenewsng.com