Adesina mentioned this via an article titled, “I saw the old NNPC die” justifying how the changing of the company to a liability company by the Buhari Government would enhance the productivity and revenue generation of the company.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that despite having assets that are worth over N60billion, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) keeps making huge losses every fiscal year.
Adesina mentioned this via an article titled, “I saw the old NNPC die” justifying how the changing of the company to a liability company by the Buhari Government would enhance the productivity and revenue generation of the company.
He said, “I was witness to history on Friday last week. I’d been invited to attend what was called NNPC Cutover Ceremony at the corporate head office of the burgeoning National Energy Company in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.
“What did the event mean, in simple English. NNPC was completing its transmutation from a Corporation to a Limited Company, as required by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation that we had known since 1977 was evanescing, dying, and transmogrifying into Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited.
“What is the difference between the two entities? As a corporation, NNPC was a government owned outfit, which could make heavy losses if it wanted (and it did, heavily, for over 40 years) and it would continue to exist. Government would keep supporting it. But as a limited company, it would operate like every private company in the country, not subject to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Public Procurement Act, and the Treasury Single Account (TSA). It was a business, pure and simple
“The leviathan called NNPC has huge asset base in excess of 60 billion US dollars, but decade after decade, it kept turning up humongous losses. Kyari stated that if it had not been a government owned corporation all along, “it would long have been folded up.” Its appetite for debts and losses was insatiable.
“For more than two decades, Federal Government conceived the idea to turn NNPC into a company, and came up with the Petroleum Industry Bill, which would revolutionize the entire oil industry. But there were too many self interests, nationally and internationally, and the legislation did not see the light of day. Till one man who didn’t want anything for himself came. Muhammadu Buhari. Staid, almost ascetic, clean as a whistle, straight as an arrow, and the Bill became an Act. Petroleum Industry Act was born”.