President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and other government officials on Tuesday attended the unveiling of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited).
The event, which is taking place in Abuja, the nation’s capital also has in attendance, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari among other players in the oil and gas sectors.
The transitioning from NNPC Group to NNPC Limited is in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act.
According to the Act, NNPC Limited will run a commercial and profit-focused organisation under the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
But, stakeholders have expressed cautious optimism as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) transits today, insisting that most of the entities under the companies are still loss making sub-subsidiaries.
Going by the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), NNPC had on July 1, 2022, legally transformed into a company that will be regulated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
As President Buhari officially unveils the NNPC today, stakeholders are insistent that the move should bring an end to arbitrariness, heavy-handed government control and wasteful practices.
An energy expert, Henry Adigun, is worried that the company is currently keeping thousands of redundant staff, especially those in the refineries. He stated that though the company is transiting, months of transition mode did not address the loss making entities in the company.
An economist, Prof. Segun Ajibola, said it is now important for the NNPC to take courage to imbibe the culture and ethos of a private sector-led business, focusing on the primary objective of profit.
He equally advised the company to allow good corporate governance principles to influence its decisions and actions, adding that suboptimal decisions, which is often influenced by primordial considerations must give way.
“By so doing, we are likely to see NNPC transformed to a more efficiently run company, playing its critical roles of regulating an oil and gas sector that goes to the very heart of the Nigeria’s economy,” Ajibola said.
Executive Director of Order Paper Nigeria, Oke Epia, said: “I’d like to see how the new company deals with the moribund refineries on which taxpayers monies are expended in billions of naira. I’d like to also see how it commits and abides by Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) principles and global best practices relating to energy transition.”
Epia is, however, worried over how the company would deal with a board that is perceived to be politically heavy in composition and inclination.