Refineries Privatisation: Atiku Demands Listing NNPCL On Stock Exchange
Refineries Privatisation: Atiku Demands Listing NNPCL On Stock Exchange
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has demanded the immediate listing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Atiku who was reacting to the decision of the NNPCL to hand over the Warri and Kaduna refineries to private operators who are expected to manage and operate them, said this would make the company more profitable and enhance transparency and corporate governance.
“The NNPCL is supposed to have been listed on the stock exchange in line with the Petroleum Industry Act,” he stated.
The two-time presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, said anything short of listing the NNPCL on the stock exchange is nothing but a cosmetic development.
“Currently, the NNPCL claims to be private, but this is only a ruse to fool the feeble-minded because it remains the ATM of the Federal Government,” Atiku claimed.
He alleged that the NNPC Limited provides political protection to President Bola Tinubu government’s policy inconsistency on the payment of subsidy, and said this raised questions about the independence that the PIA requires of the NNPC Limited as a private business concern.
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According to him, previous arrangements and concessions by the NNPC could not work because of a lack of transparency in the contract award process as well as the failure of the government to attract investors.
The former vice president stated that for such privatisation to succeed, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and a credible technical partner like Standard and Poor’s must be part of the process.
He described NNPCL as “a cesspool of endemic corruption,” noting that former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently revealed that Shell, one of the world’s wealthiest oil companies, rejected the offer to operate Nigeria’s refineries.
“This is why over $20 billion that has been spent on the refineries in the last 20 years has led to nowhere.
“It is also curious that a government that is still paying petrol subsidy is trying to make its refineries profitable.
“Which businessman will invest in a refinery that has been programmed to operate at a loss?” Atiku wondered.
