The Accountable Leadership for Better Nigeria Initiative on Sunday condemned statements made by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on why the Federal Government would not be able to recover $62bn from international oil companies.

In his recent response to enquiries from State House correspondents on the $62bn which the IOCs owe Nigeria, in terms of accrued revenue since 2003, Sylva had said nobody could bring out that kind of money.

Reacting to the minister’s comments, the Executive Director, ALBNI, Remi Adebayo, said, “It is unbecoming of a minister to assume the role of the mouthpiece and insider representative of the oil companies against the economic development of Nigeria and against the Federal Government’s fight against corruption and economic sabotage.”

He said in a statement issued in Abuja that since 2003 when the price of crude oil exceeded $20 per barrel in real terms, the oil companies involved in deep offshore contracts with the Federal Government, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, had plundered the nation’s economy.