Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in an interactive session with correspondents, spoke on regaining the integrity of the Corporation and the trust of Nigerians in the Corporation.
The auditing of the corporation’s accounts will begin as accountants will be brought in. “We are bringing back the auditors. I need to know what the account of the corporation is. The last audited account was in 2010. It is the entitlement of the people to know how the oil money is spent… The contract we run must be transparent. It is the right of every viable contractor to apply for a contract. Everybody must be part of it but we will choose the best contractor,” he said.
On the massive restructuring embarked on at the NNPC, Kachikwu emphasized on his need to make the corporation more viable and in essence more transparent and disclosed that any refinery that fails to produce at the end of the 90-day deadline will be put up for sale.
Efforts are also underway to make the corporation’s accounts and activities available to the public through monthly publications. The website will also be enriched with any information that would be required by the public about the Corporation.
“I am hoping that between now and December we will deal with the issue of arrears,” he said while responding to the $6 billion the corporation owes in cash call to its joint venture partners. He disclosed that corporation would sell refineries that fail to work optimally by the expiration of the December deadline.
Dr Ibe also, “By the end of December when the 90-day ultimatum will expire, any refinery that does not workoptimally will be sold… I am determined to make a difference during my tenure. We are losing N2.2 trillion monthly to refinery inefficiency. As at today, the average refining performance is 30 per cent.