Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday denied stories  that he approved contracts for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while he was  Acting President.

Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande had on Thursday tweeted that the VP approved the NNPC contracts after due diligence, describing it as a necessary action needed to deal with the backlog of unpaid cash calls and incentivise investments.

The Vice President made the clarification in Bonny, Bayelsa State shortly after flagging off the Bodo – Bonny Road in Rivers State. He said as provided by law, he only gave authorizations for the NNPC to obtain loans.

Osinbajo said: “They were financing loans, joint venture loans that have been procured. So, in some cases, the NNPC ventures have to secure loans and they need the authorization to secure those loans. While the President was away, I granted authorization which is what the law provides.”

He added: “The law actually provides for that authorization. So, I did grant all of those. In fact, there were two of them but those are presidential approvals but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are loans and not contracts.”