NNPC targets profitability by 2021 – GMD

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has restated its commitment to efficiency, openness, transparency and prudence in service delivery if it is to realise its objectives and meet the expectations of its shareholders.

The Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mele Kyari, who stated this in Abuja on Friday at a state of the industry briefing to journalists, said despite the impact of COVID-19, if the NNPC is able to sustain the current trajectory in its progress, it might become profitable and commence payment of dividends from next year.

Mr. Kyari said no organisation can meet the expectations of its shareholders without being efficient and prudent in service delivery and payment of dividends to its investors.

Why NNPC failed to meet expectations
He said over the years, the NNPC failed to meet the expectations of its shareholders because its management has always been running from one crisis or opacity to another.

Apart from Nigerians always seeing the corporation as the representation of corruption, Mr Kyari said successive managements were scared they would not be able to stand the test of scrutiny if they opened up their operations to the public.

When he assumed office, he said, he promised to be different, by opening-up to the public and ensuring frank disclosure of NNPC’s operations and finances.

“We decided to open up to our shareholders, which are Nigerians, after all, we are not angels, neither are we saints. If it were so, there would not be eternal life, and if everyone was having eternal life, there will not be any rendition of accounts.

“We recognized that everyone makes mistakes. But, in running this business, NNPC does not make deliberate mistakes.

“I told Nigerians we were going to be accountable to them by being transparent to them in our transactions, which is a matter of entitlement to the shareholders. This will help us do better in the business,” he said.

Annual audit statements published
Mr Kyari said he was proud to note that NNPC was the only national oil company that publishes its operational and financial records every month.

He said his management did not stop at publishing the monthly operational report of the NNPC, but went a step further to publish its annual audited financial statement, which it had not done in 43 years of its operation.

Despite some unflattering contents in the 2018 financial statement, including reports of over N803 billion losses in its refining operations, pipeline business, and other expenditures in many segments of its business that should not have been, he said the NNPC went ahead to still publish the report.

Source: Premium Times