THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Thursday, warned the 128 prospective companies bidded for Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) of its crude oil to be wary of gullible people in the society, especially within the corporation, saying nobody could influence their biddings.
According to the corporation, “don’t listen to those people going about that they can influence this process, that they know the Group Managing Director, they know the Group General Manager of Crude Oil Marketing Division and other heads of our various departments. Nobody can influence the process”.
This warning was given by the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of the corporation, Mr. Mele Kyari, while addressing the representatives of the bidding companies at the public bid opening, which was held at the Amphitheatre of NNPC in Abuja.
Mr. Kyari, who said the transparency and accountability were the major thrust of the corporation, then assured them that the NNPC would only select partners with high records of performance in exchange of crude oil for petroleum product, promising not to leave any room for corruption during the process.
He explained that the bidding was meant to select those who were technically competent, which means those who have access to finance, those who have access to the market, and more importantly, those who have complied with the requirements of the Nigeria Quantity of Management Development Act 2010.
While declaring the programme open, the Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Maikanti Baru said about 8,000 barrel is the volume of crude oil involved in this year DSDP`s programme.
He stated that the DSDP has helped greatly in the stabilisation of products supply to the nation since inception of the programne, as over half a billion dollars has been recorded through major reduction.
Mr. Baru, therefore, announced that whoever emerged must have physical presence in Nigeria, either depot or retail outlet, as a minimum.
The GMD added that, significant lessons have been learnt in the operation of DSDP in the past one year, which have been incorporated into tender process.
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