Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday presided over a meeting attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources , Dr . Ibe Kachikwu ; and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr . Maikanti Baru, at the Presidential Villa , Abuja. Both Kachikwu and Baru were in the limelight lately over a letter the minister wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari on the NNPC boss .
Kachikwu later told State House correspondents that the meeting discussed issues relating to oil fields as well as opening of escrow accounts and cash call issues. The minister said:
“It’s a meeting on upstream , a normal typical meeting . It was largely AGIP bringing some information to the Vice President on where they have been in terms of Okpai , in terms of Zabazaba Deepwater oilfield field , in terms of the cash call exit which they are doing with NNPC. It was basically updating him , asking for areas where they need some assistance from government officials to sort of fastrack . It was normal upstream meeting.”
When asked on the extent which the issue of cash call discussed, the minister said:
“Yes . We did only to the extent that a few completion items on NNPC , largely the opening up of the escrow accounts and that type of stuff which they need to fasten up on. But we are far gone on that . Installmental payments are already going on, I think NNPC is undertaking by October or early next month to complete that whole process. So is going on very well .”