Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, said the firm is targeting projected revenue of N4.5 trillion as expected income in 2023.
According to him, having gone fully commercial, the company controls over 30 per cent of the market share in the downstream sector.
Kyari disclosed this when he led other management members of the NNPC on a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, in Abuja, Thursday.
While highlighting areas of improvement in the company through the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Kyari reiterated that the entity has fully gone commercial with the new law, adding that it had, hitherto, operated at a loss, recording a negative of N803 billion in 2018.
He, however, informed the Speaker and the House that the changes that happened in the company after the PIA led to the realisation of a N674 billion profit after tax in 2021, and over N2 trillion in income in 2022.
“This company is operating just like any other private company providing dividends to its shareholders. We have over 30 per cent of the market share in the downstream sector, which is why no single player can hold this country to ransom in terms of making products available to Nigerians.
“So, when you see queues, it’s really not as a result of scarcity but internal events arising from the actions of marketers, and people can always go to our stations and be served. They are guaranteed quality and accurate quantity of dispensed products,” he said.
The Speaker, on his part, said that for Nigeria to avoid more wasteful years of non-performing public assets in the oil sector, NNPC must come up with creative ways for optimal performance.
Abbas, while commending NNPC for taking full advantage of the PIA to maximise its commercial potentials, decried the state of Nigeria’s refineries such as the one in Kaduna, which he said had been moribund for over 20 years, even though staff were getting paid and promoted.
He described the situation as inefficiency and waste of human resources that needs to be addressed.
Abbas called for measures to turn around losses suffered by the economy, owing to the non-productive state of the refineries, by privatising them for better management and productivity.
The Speaker congratulated the company for redirecting gains of subsidy removal to other productive areas of enhancement that are adding value, as shown by leap being reported in its revenue profile presented by the Chief Executive.
He said the 10th House, and by extension the National Assembly, would be behind the company fully in its fight against oil theft, disclosing that the House has taken the lead in creating a Special Committee on Oil Theft and Pipeline Vandalism, which was inaugurated on Wednesday.
Abbas, who received the NNPC management in the company of the Minority Whip of the House, Ali Isa, and the chairmen of relevant committees in the oil and gas sector, assured the company of the willingness of the House to always partner with it in repositioning the nation’s economy.
SOURCE: guardian.ng