Economic Sabotage, Count Us Out — NNPC Ltd

ABUJA – The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, has said the company has not breached any of the enabling laws guiding its dealings with partners, hence should be counted out of any claims of economic sabotage.

Kyari, who was ad­dressing the Senate Ad- Hoc Committee investi­gating alleged economic sabotage in the Nigeria Petroleum Industry at the National Assembly on Wednesday, stated that refining business is a straightforward busi­ness, which any investor should know before com­ing into the market.

“Refining business is a straightforward business. You must secure (a source for) your feedstock and you must find a market. This is basic and this de­termines what happens in any refinery anywhere in the world. That is the busi­ness of refining. We have done nothing to sabotage any domestic refinery,” Kyari stated.

According to the GCEO, the law is very clear on domestic crude oil sup­ply obligation and also on providing for local re­fineries.

However, Kyari added, the same law also said that there must be a willing buyer and a willing seller.

On alleged importation of sub-standard products into the country, Kyari said the NNPC Limited has nothing to do with that as the relevant regulatory agencies will, by law, not allow any sub-standard product into the country.

The GCEO also sup­ported calls for the Ad-hoc Committee to beam the interactive sessions live on national television to prevent misinforming Ni­gerians.

He explained that there is enough infrastructure to produce two million bar­rels of crude per day but the challenges of crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and absence of investment in the upstream are the ma­jor factors hindering the sector.

He said as a company owned by the over 200 mil­lion Nigerians, the NNPC Limited has grown from a loss-making position to a profit-making entity.

While pledging full co-operation towards the committee in its efforts to unravel the allegations being investigated, Kyari said the NNPC Limited, its entire board, management and staff remain loyal, faithful and committed to Nigeria and will continue to act in line with the pro­visions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Company & Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and other en­abling laws and regulations governing the nation’s en­ergy industry.

“We are faithful, loyal and committed to the prog­ress and development of this country. It is our duty to protect the overall in­terest of this great nation. We are not in breach of any rules,” Kyari concluded.

Similarly, the Chief Ex­ecutive Officer of NMD­PRA, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, in his brief remarks said the planned public hearing should be televised live for Nigerians to know those indulging in the alleged economic sabotage in the sector.

“A lot of negative stories and narratives have been written and published against us in NMDPRA on how we are carrying out our regulatory functions without us saying telling our own story.

“Gratifyingly, the planned public hearing will give us the appropriate platform of laying our fact bare to Nigerians for them to know who is sabotaging who.

“The investigation should be public and tele­vised live”, he stressed.

In his presentation, the Group Chief Strategy Of­ficer of Dangote Refinery, Aliyu Sulaiman, said out of the 5 million crude oil they got in recent time, NNPCL gave them 60%, 20% imported and 20% purchased.

He commended the NN­PCL for making the huge supply to Dangote but added that the refinery is a baby that should be supported by all relevant stakeholders to grow and not die.

At the session with stakeholders, the Leader of the Senate and Chair­man, Senate Ad-hoc Com­mittee expressed concern about the dysfunctionality of the government-owned refineries.

Bamidele observed that the federation “is undergo­ing a truly challenging pe­riod,” pointing out that the distribution and supply of refined petroleum products “has been irregular and problematic in the recent history of our fatherland.

“The long queues at fill­ing stations are obviously a testament to this challenge. A situation, whereby we now depend almost entire­ly on the importation of these products, even when we daily supply the global oil market no fewer than two percent of its crude oil requirements, is to say the least, highly worrisome.

“We also have at hand a grievous issue of national concern that directly bor­ders on the importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country.”

Under different admin­istrations since 1999, Bam­idele observed that the Federal Government “has invested billions of dol­lars to maintain and turn around the state-owned refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri. But the refineries are not func­tioning.

“In 2021, specifically, the Federal Executive Council approved $1.5 billion for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Re­finery. Yet, this investment has not yielded significant returns.

“For us, in the Senate, we believe, it is unfair and unpatriotic to treat govern­ment businesses or public corporations as an orphan while private businesses are flourishing and thriv­ing,” Bamidele pointed out at the interactive session.

To permanently nip these challenges in the bud, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee disclosed the plan of the Senate to joint­ly conduct investigation into diverse allegations of economic sabotage in the petroleum industry along with the House of Repre­sentatives.

Bamidele, equally, not­ed that there would be no room for grandstanding during the investigative hearing, promising that the committee would carry out its mandate fairly and impartially.

While insisting that no­body will be untouchable, Bamidele said the task of ridding the petroleum in­dustry of malfeasance “is urgent and must be carried out in the spirit of nation­alism and patriotism. We are ready to carry it out with all senses of honour and responsibility.

“We are also taking it seriously with a view to addressing fundamental is­sues that pose grave threats to our economic prosperity, fiscal stability and public health as a federation. In line with our mandate, we will definitely unravel factors and forces aiding sabotage in our petroleum industry.

“From our findings, we will craft a legislative framework that will en­trench global best practices in the industry; open it up for more investments, es­pecially in the midstream and downstream sectors and end vicious regimes of subterfuge in the petro­leum industry.

“We are utterly commit­ted to this mandate. We shall carry it out without fear or favour. We shall be equitable, fair and just to all parties with a view to promoting and protecting the strategic national in­terests of our fatherland,” Bamidele said.

He, therefore, promised that the National Assembly “is ready to carry out the investigative hearing with all senses of honour and responsibility,” citing im­peccable professional back­grounds of the members of the committee.

The session was attend­ed by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Group Managing Director, Nigerian Nation­al Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Malam Mele Kyari; Chief Execu­tive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe; Chief Executive Officer, Nigeri­an Midstream and Down­stream Petroleum Regula­tory Authority, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, among others.