Scrap Direct Crude Allocation To NNPC, Right Group Tells Nig. Govt

By Alltimepost.com

ABUJA – As the Nigerian government continues its probe into the alleged shady activities of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), environmental rights group, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice has called on the Buhari administration to halt direct crude allocation to the embattled oil company.

A statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the organization’s president, Rev. David Ugolor cited a report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute that NNPC sells 639,983 barrels per day to unidentifiable companies in a Joint Venture equity oil arrangement that smacks of mismanagement and lack of accountability.

The organization applauded the appointment of a new Group Managing Director for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and the plan of shrinking the management offices of the corporation to manageable divisions.

According Rev Ugolor, dwindling fortunes of Nigeria and the mismanagement of oil proceeds highlight more than ever before the importance of reorganizing the NNPC for optimum efficiency and capacity utilization.

“We also task the new NNPC GMD to develop a clear revenue collection framework and introduce the selling of crude to end users rather than to governments and briefcase companies.”

Formed nearly 38 years ago, the NNPC has been mired in allegations of corruption, mismanagement and lack of transparency in its financial obligations to the Nigerian State.

“If indeed the NNPC must begin to do things differently, a minister of petroleum can no longer sit on the board of the NNPC as chairman”, Ugolor said.

ANEEJ believes that the alleged plan to split the NNPC in two – the commercial and regulatory arms may introduce the much-needed reform that the oil and gas industry in Nigeria truly needs.

“Areas where the new NNPC management should focus on should be a quick resolution of the debts that the NNPC owes marketers so as to bring to an end the obnoxious dark deals of the oil-for-product-swap arrangement,” Ugolor has said.

Presently, there are no regulatory mechanisms in place to account for how Nigeria’s oil is sold via Joint Venture, oil bloc allocation and oil from production sharing contracts.