13th July, 2015
Funsho Arogundade
Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna state has described the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC as a monster that should be tamed or else it destroy Nigeria.
El Rufai stated this on Monday as guest speaker at the 2015 Wole Soyinka Centre Annual Media Lecture in Abuja.
“We need to define exactly what we want the oil industry to be and to achieve, and then define the structure that can best deliver it. An efficient and productive oil sector, able to create jobs, spur industrialization and earn more revenues requires that we tackle the monster that the NNPC has become,” he said.
According to Kaduna State’s henchman, Nigeria as a nation can no longer afford to maintain an NNPC that “arrogantly, unlawfully and unconstitutionally spends an unhealthy proportion of national oil earnings on itself.”
El Rufai thus called on the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to ‘kill’ the NNPC and replace it with a brand new organisation.
“The corruption and nonchalance that have hobbled the NNPC are symptoms that its best days are over. We should give it a deserved funeral so that a new institution, active and nimble, can promptly replace it,” the governor advised.
He added, “This new national oil company should be capitalised once and for all, and then freed to fend for itself like other national oil companies do, seeking its financing independently from the financial markets and paying due taxes and royalties.”
El-Rufai also urged the government to review the Joint Venture strategy, with the governing principle being to shift the financing and operational risks to the markets and operators respectively.
“Government should avoid owing the oil companies, and should more proactively review the terms and implementation of the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and concentrate on collecting the royalties and taxes due to it,” he stated.