Those Opposing Oil Sector Reforms Threatening To Kill Me, Says Kyari

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari on Wednesday raised the alarm that those who are opposing the reforms currently being implemented in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria are threatening to kill him.

The NNPC Boss revealed this in Abuja on Wednesday at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Summit organised by the House of Representatives Anti-Corruption Committee.

Since he assumed office, Kyari has pursued his Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, a five-step strategic roadmap for NNPC’s attainment of efficiency and global excellence.

During his inauguration as NNPC Boss, Kyari had said pursuing TAPE was the only way to turn around the NNPC and make it competitive.

Under the roadmap, the Transparency component of the agenda was aimed at maintaining positive image, share values of integrity and transparency to all stakeholders, while the Accountability segment of the campaign is to assure compliance with business ethics, policies, regulations and accountability to all stakeholders.

In terms of the two-prong item of Performance Excellence, the idea was to entrench a high level of efficiency anchored on efficient implementation of business processes which would also emplace an appropriate reward system for exceptional performance among the workforce

Kyari’s achievement in repositioning the oil and gas industry in Nigeria has been described as unrivaled in the history of the National Oil Company.

He was responsible for the Open Government Initiative that ushered in an era of transparency and accountability in the NNPC’s operations.

Kyari has also kept his promise to the NNPC and Nigeria by increasing the nation’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels, from 37 billion barrels.

The NNPC Boss has also assisted in resolving disputes around deep offshore bloc to further boost the nation’s oil production, and ensuring the successful flag-off of the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project.

The project has been described by President Muhammadu Buhari as a game changer for the oil and gas industry.

Speaking at the event, the NNPC Boss said those opposed to the changes which he is inplementing in the sector have resorted to threats in a bid to have their way.

He said, “Without mincing words, I want to say that this industry is on a threshold of change, there is massive change going on and it is very expensive and of personal cost to many people including myself.

“There are threats to life, I can say this, I have several death threats but we are not bothered about this. We believe that no one dies unless it is his time.

“But this is the cost of change. When people move away from what they are used to something that is new that will take away value and benefit from them, they will react.”

In terms of profitability, he said through effective business processes, the NNPC Group which became a CAMA Company in 2021 following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, grew its profit from N287bn in 2020 to N674bn in 2021.

The N674bn profit posted by the NNPC Group in the 2021 financial period represents an increase of N387bn or 134.8 per cent when compared to the N287bn recorded in 2020.

He explained that the 2021 financial year made it the fourth consecutive years that the NNPC will be making its Audited Financial Statement public.

On the issue of fuel subsidy, he stated that the inability of the NNPC to remit to the federation account before it was made a CAMA company was because of the huge under-recovery cost which had served as subsidy.

He stated further that as long as there is arbitrage in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, smuggling and round-tripping will continue to thrive.

He added that NNPC Limited cannot be held responsible for some of the challenges associated with PMS and subsidy.

Kyari explained that the cost of fuel importation has become so high ghat the government is currently spending about N290 on every litre in fuel subsidy.

He said, “With this regime, it is impossible for you to avoid all the wrong things that are happening. Round tripping, cross border smuggling, document forgery—anywhere you have arbitrage, you will have these issues.

“As long as arbitrage is there, you will continue to have these issues and you cannot hold NNPC Limited accountable for it because it is a value chain that involves everything and everybody.

“Revenue not delivered to the federation account – why would an institution deliver revenue to the federation account? Without mincing words, you cannot eat your cake and have it. Today, NNPC by law is required to guarantee energy security, particularly by making sure that petroleum product is available across the country.

“We have made a law—the Appropriation Act provided subsidy on petroleum, but the state does not have the money. So, when I give you an invoice and you cannot settle it, therefore, you have no way of settling it except through offset against fiscal obligations.

“What fiscal obligations does the NNPC have? royalty, profit oil, and taxes. You cannot deliver on these fiscal obligations and still import products and sell at a sub-market price.”

On the issue of crude oil theft, he explained that the recent collaborative measures being taken by the NNPC have started to yield results as production volume is now picking up from the terminals.

He justified the decision to engage the oil pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, led by Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo, arguing it was aimed at curtailing the massive theft of oil in the country.

While noting that the surveillance deal is yielding good returns for the country, he maintained that the amount spent to secure the services of Tompolo’s firm is an insignificant quantum of the value of oil stolen in recent times in the country.

He added, “The scale of oil theft that we have seen was not anticipated, not expected, not thought of. The scale is enormous. We have seen pipelines taken from our main trunk lines into abandoned platforms in which people come to steal oil.

“We have seen the thousands of illegal refineries that we have taken down in the last 4 -5 months . We have seen up to 295 illegal connections to our pipelines and many of them have been there for years. Companies would top injecting oil if they discover it can’t get to the terminals.”

Kyari reiterated NNPC’s commitment towards guaranteeing energy security, adding that currently, the national oil company is left with no option than to sustain the subsidy regime to make fuel affordable to Nigerians.

He insisted that NNPC is no longer required to go to Federation Account Allocation Committee since it is expected to pay taxes, royalties and pay dividends collecting authorities in the country.