By Oviri Kelivn
The civil society organization, Partners for Petroleum and Energy Sector Prosperity Initiative (P-PESPI), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, with a prime focus on building investors’ confidence in the country’s petroleum sector.
In a statement, the chairman of the group, Mr. Charles Ibiang, made the call in Abuja on Tuesday.
Nigerians could recall that in September, Mr. President appointed the new board members of the NNPC limited with a biannual timeline for the company to be incorporated.
A former senator of the National Assembly, Sen. Ifeanyi Ararume was made the Chairman of the board, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, Chief Executive Officer, and Umar Ajiya serves as the Chief Financial Officer.
Also included in the board from other geopolitical zones in the country were Tajudeen Umar from the northeast, Lami Ahmed from north-central, Mohammed Lawal northwest, Margaret Chuba Okadigbo south east, Constance Harry-Marshal south-south, and Pius Akinyelure southwest.
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According to P-PESPI, the inauguration of the board by the president was slated to hold on November 24, 2021, but was indefinitely suspended. However, the chairman, Obiang, noted that the refusal of Mr. President to inaugurate the board could hurt investments in the industry as both indigenous investors and foreign investment capital prefers to invest in a stable, legal, and statutorily constituted board.
According to NAN, Ibiang added that; “Investors invest where the sanctity of contracts are respected, and when there are breaches, remedies are well spelled out in the laws.”
“P-PESPI, regrettably observed, that the suspension of the inauguration of the NNPC Ltd Board is worrisome to stakeholders and is capable of casting doubt in the minds of the Investors, whether Nigeria is ready to allow NNPC Ltd transition to a commercially viable private company without unnecessary political interference.
“Therefore, the boost NNPC Ltd requires at this very time is a certainty.
“The quick inauguration of the NNPC Ltd Board will help establish leadership stability and give reassurances to the partnership which is the operating models in the petroleum sector is a working system and well protected by law.
“Aside from regulations, leadership stability is key to attracting and sustaining investments.
The chairman noted that continued delay by Buhari in inaugurating the board could hinder certain deals like the 1.04 billion dollars deal brokered in November between NNPC and Afreximbank during the 2nd Intra-Africa trade fair in South Africa. If things are not put right, many of such deals can be affected when things go wrong in the NNPC Limited.
Ibiang reiterated that the leadership of the NNPC Ltd under GMD Mele Kyari is effectively engaging in positioning the post-petroleum Industry Act National Oil Company as a robust business entity where investors and foreign capital investments will make their prime business focus.
Furthermore, the chairman added that the transparency and openness being practiced by NNPC in her operations has boosted, against the former opaque regime, an encouraging platform to the global energy investments eco-system. The certainty in the fiscal and regulatory petroleum sector environment, occasioned by the new PIA is a sure incentive for foreign capital investment.
“So, many upstream activities showing a lot of impetus to commence operations left in the past and are scrambling to control a junk of the downstream market share of our huge petroleum market.
“A lot of FID on multi-billion dollars projects in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry is warming up and waiting to be signed.
“But the suspension of the board’s inauguration is threatening these milestones achieved so far by the Buhari-led administration,” he added.
Commending Buhari for the speedy signing of the PIA into law, Ibiang however appealed to him to extend the same consciousnesses in inaugurating the board for the overall performance of a seamless administration of the NNPC Ltd, the statement concluded.
