September 01, (THEWILL) – Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has slammed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, describing the national oil company as “a cesspool of endemic corruption”.
In a statement signed on Sunday, by Paul Ibe, his Media Adviser, Atiku demanded the immediate listing of the NNPCL on the Nigeria Stock Exchange in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
THEWILL had reported that the national oil company recently announced its intention to engage operations and maintenance (O&M) companies to oversee the operations of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).
Speaking on Sunday, Atiku said the listing of the NNPCL on the stock exchange would make the company more profitable and enhance transparency and corporate governance.
The two-time presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said anything short of listing the NNPCL on the stock exchange is nothing but a cosmetic development.
He said, “The NNPCL is supposed to have been listed on the stock exchange in line with the Petroleum Industry Act. This would make the company more profitable and enhance transparency and corporate governance.
“Currently, the NNPCL claims to be private, but this is only a ruse to fool the feeble-minded because it remains the ATM of the Federal Government. Anything short of listing the NNPCL on the stock exchange is nothing but a cosmetic development.”
He alleged that the NNPC Limited provides political protection to President Bola Tinubu government’s policy inconsistency on the payment of subsidy, and said this raised questions about the independence that the PIA requires of the NNPC Limited as a private business concern.
According to him, previous arrangements and concessions by the NNPC could not work because of a lack of transparency in the contract award process as well as the failure of the government to attract investors.
The former Vice President said for such privatisation to succeed, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and a credible technical partner like Standard and Poor’s must be part of the process.
He described the NNPCL as “a cesspool of endemic corruption”, noting that former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently revealed that Shell, one of the world’s wealthiest oil companies, rejected the offer to operate Nigeria’s refineries.
“This is why over $20 billion that has been spent on the refineries in the last 20 years has led to nowhere. It is also curious that a government that is still paying petrol subsidy is trying to make its refineries profitable. Which businessman will invest in a refinery that has been programmed to operate at a loss?” Atiku queried.
Atiku questioned the feasibility of the NNPC’s latest plan, pointing out that such arrangements in the past had not been profitable.
“The manage and operate approach has not always worked. The Manitoba Hydro International, which was handed to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, led to nowhere. Similarly, Global Steel Limited, which was handed to the Ajaokuta Steel Company, was not able to make the facility profitable.
“The contract was questionably revoked by the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration, and Nigeria ended up paying Global Steel a compensation of nearly $500 million while Ajaokuta remains comatose 17 years later,” he said.
The former Vice President advised the NNPCL not to make the contract process opaque like it did with OVH in 2023, which he said was not only dubious but has still failed to boost the company’s petrol sufficiency as evidenced by the months-long fuel scarcity.
“In 2022, Nueoil, an unknown and newly registered company, acquired OVH and Oando filling stations. Barely four months later, NNPCL Retail bought Nueoil and took control of all its assets, including the Oando filling stations. Barely eight months later, OVH turned around to take over NNPCL Retail.
“This convoluted transaction was done in order to hide the corruption involved. If this is the approach that the NNPCL wants to use in handing over its refineries to private hands, then Nigerians should not expect any positive development whatsoever,” he warned.
