LAST week, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) after decades of perpetual inefficiency and monumental losses by the NNPC. The unveiling was done in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), with the corporation legally transforming, on July 1, into a company regulated by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). Speaking on the occasion, Buhari expressed hope that it would sustainably deliver value to its over 200 million shareholders and the global energy community, operate without relying on government funding, and be free from institutional regulations such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA). He said: “Our country places a high premium on creating the right atmosphere that supports investment and growth to boost our economy and continue to play an important role in sustaining global energy requirements. We are transforming our petroleum industry to strengthen its capacity and market relevance for the present and future global energy priorities.” The corporation, the president added, would conduct itself in accordance with the international business practice in transparency, governance and commercial viability.
Also speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, toed a similar optimistic path. The signing of the PIA, he said, had given international and local oil firms adequate protection for their investments. He added: “We are setting all these woes behind us and a clear path for the survival and growth of our petroleum industry is now before us.” For his part, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari, announced that the company had adopted a strategic initiative to achieve the mandate of energy security for the country by rolling out a comprehensive expansion plan to grow its fuel retail presence from 547 to over 1,500 outlets within the next six months. ‘’NNPC Limited is positioned to lead Africa’s gradual transition to new energy by deepening natural gas production to create low carbon activities and positively change the story of energy poverty at home and around the world,’’ he enthused.
But the optimism in government circles is hardly replicated in the larger Nigerian society, in large part because of the corporation’s sordid past. For instance, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the apex body of leaders of coastal states of the Niger Delta, accused the Federal Government of taking the oil and gas-bearing communities of the Niger Delta and Nigerians for granted with the unveiled corporation. It described the corporation as an old wine in a decorated new bottle, wondering how it could become a “dynamic global energy company of choice to deliver energy for today, for tomorrow, for the day and days after tomorrow”, as stated by the president at the unveiling, when appointments were not made based on conventional standards. It also took issue with the fact that the new NNPC Limited had reportedly taken as priorities the expansion of its retail outlets from 547 to over 1,500 within the next six months and the retailing of imported petroleum, instead of prioritising local refining to meet domestic needs.
Of a truth, as the corporation is now a private company, the core question in the minds of Nigerians is precisely what is in it for them. And it is a perfectly legitimate question. If the company is run efficiently and guarantees returns that are utilised by the political class to advance Nigeria’s developmental quest, of course Nigerians would come to have a positive attitude towards it. The fact, at least for now, is that it has failed Nigeria and Nigerians for 45 years. And to make matters worse, it has not remitted anything to the Federation Account this year. That being the case, Nigerians would be excused for doubting whether they are going to witness a paradigm shift from what they had faced over the years.
The transformation of the NNPC into a limited liability company is ostensibly to bring the efficiency and effective running that is the hallmark of private organisations to bear on its operations in order for Nigerians to maximally benefit from it. It is assumed that a major part of its problems over the years was its public nature and running which got it infected with the deficiencies of politics. Yet, it must be stated that there is nothing in the mere change of name and mode of running that would inspire confidence in a new and more resourceful and efficient NNPC. This is because it remains an entity that belongs to Nigeria and is thus going to be staffed by the government. Pray, what really would make appointees of government into NNPCL to behave differently from how appointees into the old corporation behaved? The truth is that it would take a different, positive frame of mind and attitude at the topmost level of government for that to percolate to all appointees of government at all levels and even at the NNPCL, and not just a celebration of a change of name.
The government has to look inwards and seek to change the logic of the performance of government institutions and establishments even in the remaining short period it has in office if it truly wants to see positive change at NNPCL and all other government agencies. This is the expectation of Nigerians and not a vaunted change that is not built on concrete attitudinal transformation but on mere renaming.
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