NNPC Met Its Obligations To FAAC Despite COVID-19 Disruption-Kyari

The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari has said that the Corporation, despite the disruption in the oil and gas industry occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, was able to maintain its obligations to the Federation Account for seven months.

Kyari, speaking at the media parley, said the Corporation in recent past has embraced several initiatives aimed at promoting accountability and transparency in its operations.

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He said, “NNPC has never published its audited financial statement in 43 years .We came and started doing that and released the 2018 financial statement. We were not afraid of doing that and there were a lot of criticisms that we lost money in refinery operations and pipeline business.

“We went ahead and published the 2019 audited report and were able to learn and cut cost and became more efficient. There is no company in the country which has cut its losses within one financial year by N800bn. We have improved efficiency by cutting 97 per cent in our losses.”

The GMD speaking further said that the deregulation of the downstream sector was a huge challenge and difficult decision for the president considering the impact it would have on Nigerian.

He explained that the decision was approved by the President because the government could no longer afford subsidy

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GMD speaking on the Corporation’s focus on gas development as the most resilient source of energy, said that Nigeria is a gas nation even though it has been known for an oil.

“We are truly a gas country, we have over 6 trillion cubic feet of gas that is yet to be extracted and we have done very little to the gas we have, the PIB would be the solution to this.

” By the mid of next year we would see this come to pass, and once this is done we would see the new vigor of investment in the industry particularly the gas sector.

“Our vision is that NNPC will become a company of excellence and declare dividends to Nigerians and shareholders.

“We are optimistic that at the end of 2020, NNPC should be able to declare dividends to Nigerians in spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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