A good number of former management executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) including other oil companies’ senior executives have called for the scrapping of the NNPC, alleging that it has destroyed its values and inhibited the growth of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
The oil sector veterans who made the declaration in Lagos, at a symposium to mark the 80th birthday of a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Chief Festus Marinho accused the Corporation of deviating from the roles and goals set for it and the oil sector by its founders.
For the Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum, Mr. Austin Avuru, who was at a time operating in the NNPC system, “The NNPC is today, a net-destroyer of value in the oil and gas sector. Taking a look at developments in the oil and gas sector, the about $5 billion unpaid cash call, among others, will make one to ask if the NNPC is really adding value to the sector and to the Nigerian economy.”
Arguing that NNPC was established about the same time other state-owned oil companies in some countries were set up, he held that its peers in these countries today sell their crude oil by themselves, while NNPC only calculates volumes and allocations it gave to other companies to sell for it.
He then advocated for NNPC to be reduced to an efficient revenue collector for the government, while government makes effort to manage the revenue efficiently, using it as a catalyst for economic growth and ensuring that some portion are saved for the rainy day.
Avuru further stated that the federal government should hands off the oil and gas sector, allowing indigenous investors to run the sector professionally.
In the same vein, Chairman of the Transmission Company of Nigeria and former Executive Director of Corporate Services of NNPC called for the scrapping of the Corporation saying “There is no need to retain the NNPC, especially as other agencies perform the functions of the NNPC very well, such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in the area of revenue collection.”
He said the role of government in the oil and gas sector needs to be changed, adding that government’s role has reached a diminishing return.
“Government should pull back and allow indigenous players and others to bring their expertise to bear in running the sector, while government focuses on collecting taxes and carrying out its original duties of maintaining law and order and security,” he added.
The Amanayanabo of Nembe Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, (Mingi xii) in his submission disclosed that direct interference from government has over the years destabilized the NNPC.
According to him, for the NNPC to remain relevant, it is necessary to have people with courage and conscience at its helm of affairs, who can dare the government and damn the consequences of their actions.
Former Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia, who was the keynote speaker at the event, disclosed that Nigeria’s petroleum policies have always been incoherent, due to the constant change of key officials, in the NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
According to him, this instability brought about by the constant changes of key officials is not a recipe for coherent policy making.
“Petroleum policy is not always entirely coherent due in part to the frequent change of important officials. Since NNPC was created 38 years ago, we have had 16 Group Managing Directors (GMD). In 30 years, from 1977 to 2007, there were nine, average of one every three years,” he said.
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