Last week, the news hit us like a storm. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) earned a profit for the first time in its 44-year existence.
Following the conclusion of the mandatory Annual Audit process, net profit after tax was N287 billion in 2020. What year is it? 2020. The year of the Coronavirus epidemic, when much of the globe was under lockdown, including Nigeria! And here was NNPC, making a profit for the first time in its existence. What caused that to happen? How is it possible?
It occurred because, for the first time in the country’s and the NNPC’s history, there is a President who is not utilizing the place as a personal automated teller machine. He is neither amassing vast sums of money by fiat, nor is he issuing orders for any underhanded transactions. That President also serves as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Before we get into how Muhammadu Buhari broke the curse, examine how the skeptics reacted to the good news. They claimed it didn’t happen at first. The news came, and it was met with silence. They did not extensively disseminate it on social media, and several conventional media outlets did not even print it. Those that did so unwillingly made it seem more like an obituary notice. What a place!
Remember, they stated they would sell NNPC before the 2019 elections, which they expected to win. They were defeated. Flat. And, understandably, would-be sellers and potential purchasers were dissatisfied that the oil company had earned a profit: under Buhari.
After first attempting to minimize the news, they started to poke holes in it. Profit existed solely on paper and did not exist in reality. It was money that should have gone into the Federation Account but was kept back by the NNPC. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, bla It was the identical NNPC they intended to sell to their pals.
I appreciate two friends and patriots’ internet contributions to the progress. According to novelist and publisher Simbo Olorunfemi, “to constantly question good news while never hesitating to embrace bad news is an expressive evidence of the condition of mind.”
Profound. Deep. Consider this food for thought. Oil prices had been skyrocketing for years, and NNPC had been losing money, they said. They were shocked to learn that the same company earned a profit during a lockdown year. Thomases! Doubters. I wouldn’t believe that until I saw the nail marks on his hands and the spear wound on his side. “Then he said to Thomas! Be not deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deaf
Kurtis Adigba, a lawyer and ‘one man battalion’ supporting Buhari and Nigeria, makes his second internet intervention. He said, “Hate is not a stock or equity in which we must have a stake.” It yields rewards solely in the form of murder and destruction.”
Yes. They despised the news of NNPC profit since it came from an unexpected source. How could he? Who gave him permission? Nothing we don’t do can be done by anybody else.
So, how did Buhari pull it off? What did he do differently to make NNPC a successful corporation? Allow me to go back to this article I wrote in November of last year, which addresses the most of the questions. It was titled The Essential Buhari: NNPC GMD’s Testimony:
Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), met with energy editors from various media platforms last Friday. Yours truly had been invited.
I am now President Muhammadu Buhari’s media advisor, but I am still primarily a newspaperman. There is nothing I like more. And, by God’s grace, when done in government, the media still beckons. So I felt quite at home at the NNPC event, which was intended to keep the media up to speed on the latest advances in the petroleum sector.
When a General Officer Commanding (GOC) changes command, the brigade commanders and all other brass hats follow. There were managing directors of subsidiaries, group general managers, and Who’s Who in NNPC at that excursion with the GMD. The data gathered was worth its weight in gold.
Mele Kyari said that NNPC is transitioning from an integrated oil and gas corporation to an energy firm. And, in contrast to the secrecy of the past, the energy company’s activities are as clear as possible. In his own words:
“Over the last year and a half, we have attempted to fulfill that commitment by continuing to publish our Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR). To the best of my knowledge, no business does this.
“We have taken our transparency push a step further by releasing our Audited Financial Statements for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years on our website for all interested parties to witness the remarkable turnaround in our performance, which recorded 99.8 percent year on year.”
What company was the GMD referring to? NNPC? Didn’t we know it as the automated teller machine of presidents, oil ministers, and any political party in power, as well as the target of looting by those who operate it? However, under President Muhammadu Buhari, it is a new energy company, since a new broom has arrived in town and is cleaning so thoroughly. There will be more on it later.
Kyari said that no information regarding NNPC activities could be obtained that was not previously available in the public domain, adding, “I can say that we have maintained our promise in terms of openness and accountability.” We will keep working until the term “opacity” is no longer connected with the Nigerian oil and gas industry.”
According to the GMD, some of NNPC’s exploration achievements include commercial quantities of oil discovered in the Upper Benue Trough and a very high potential of oil discovery in the Kolmani River III. While seismic data gathering in the Bida Basin continues, “we are resuming exploratory activities in the Chad Basin.”
The world is shifting its emphasis away from petroleum and toward gas as the energy of the future, and the NNPC CEO said that Nigeria would not be left behind:
“We are actively investing in gas to capitalize on the energy shift and prepare Nigeria for the future in the face of the declining fortunes of petroleum liquids.”
“You may be familiar with the NLNG Train 7 and other gas infrastructure projects…
All of this is intended to ensure that Nigeria takes its due position in the developing global energy system, in which natural gas is expected to play a critical role.”
The Yuletide season is often marked by acute fuel shortages. However, the GMD stated that the energy firm has strong plans in place to ensure consistent fuel delivery throughout the nation. , “and we are certain that we will maintain zero gasoline lines during the Christmas and New Year holiday season until 2021.”
Can there be a deal between the media and the NNPC at this time without deregulating fuel prices? It would undoubtedly be insufficient. “Even though gasoline prices in Niger are as high as N464/liter and more than twice our N160/litre range in other West African nations, we will continue to guarantee Nigerians benefit from the lowest comparable pricing in West Africa and beyond,” says the GMD.
He provided comparable fuel prices in various West African nations as of November 16, 2020, as follows: Senegal, N549. Mali, Chad, Sierra Leone, N274, Liberia, N328, Ghana, N325, Cameroon, N446, and many more countries.
The GMD took advantage of the parley to refute accusations that NNPC neglected to submit monies that should have accrued to the Federation and unlawfully removed cash from the NLNG Dividends Account.
“Such an arrangement is not feasible under the TSA (Treasury Single Account) structure,” he said.
In addition, he said that President Muhammadu Buhari, who also serves as Minister of Petroleum, “has never made any demand of us, has never asked for a single item for himself, or for any individual.”
“Whenever I meet him, and we need to make a choice, he simply says, ‘Is this in the interest of the average Nigerian?’” he said. Is it in our country’s best interests?’ He grants his approbation once we can justify it. He has never asked for anything personal.”
What about in this Nigeria? A President would not issue instructions to the NNPC to cut shortcuts and pull out millions of dollars to finance private projects or just store such money away? This Buhari is certainly unusual, a great example of probity, openness, and accountability. It’s no surprise that the Hausa guy refers to him as Mai Gaskiya (the honest one).
He was in charge of the military. For more than three years, he served as Minister of Oil. For 20 months, he was the President of the United States. Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund For the last six years, he has served as President. Despite this, he does not own a single gas station, much alone an oil company. Do they still manufacture things like this? I have my doubts.
I remember Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, former two-term Governor of Lagos State, testifying as Minister of Power, Works, and Housing. He said that not once, not even half of the time, did President Buhari send anybody to him for any sort of favor, nor did he show preference for anyone. And I’ll ask again: do they still manufacture them like this? I have my doubts.
A last reminder. I had paid a social call to the President at his house one night. It was about 8 p.m., and there were just two of us in his waiting room. The other guy is ex-this, ex-that in the nation, having held a variety of high-ranking posts. “Look at this vast place,” he said. There were just two of us waiting to meet the Big Boss. It wasn’t always like this. This area would be like a market until about 3 a.m. every day, as people came to make deals and get a piece of the National cake. President Buhari, on the other hand, makes no deals. That is why there are just two of us here.”
What a gentleman! What a variety of testimonies! They don’t manufacture things like these anymore, I’m sure. Unless they don’t?
