By Adedapo Adesanya
Data analytics firm, BudgIT, on Monday called for the reformation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) following the recent release of its 2018 audited financial statements.
In a statement in Abuja, signed by its Communications Associate, Mr Iyanu Fatoba, BudgIT called for an urgent reform of the national oil company in order reverse the massive losses recorded by some of its subsidiaries.
Business Post had reported on Monday that the three refineries under the corporation had incurred a massive loss of N154 billion in 2018, with one of them unable to generate any revenue.
BudgIT commended the NNPC for publishing the audited accounts of its subsidiaries and business divisions for the first time, and for launching the OpenData segment on its website, as a measure to promote transparency in its financial operations.
According to BudgIT, while these are important steps regarding transparency, more still have to be done by the Federal Government to reform the NNPC.
“The Federal Government needs to reform the NNPC to reverse the trend of the massive losses recorded by some of the NNPC subsidiaries, annually. This audit report is a laudable step towards showing Nigerians the true picture of what is going on in NNPC,” BudgIT’s Principal Lead, Mr Gabriel Okeowo, was quoted as saying.
Also, the statement quoted Mrs Adejoke Akinbode, a Project Officer with BudgIT’s Extractive Department, as noting that a financially viable and transparent NNPC is pivotal to the Nigerian economy as the government still largely depends on revenue from oil to finance its budgets.
According to the statement, over the years, BudgIT has consistently requested that the NNPC should make its audited report available to citizens, in addition to publishing its monthly financial and operations reports, to further ensure transparency and accountability.
“In our last policy brief on NNPC reforms titled: “NNPC: The burden of Africa’s Oil and Gas Giant”, making NNPC’s audit report public was one of the 7 recommendations for reforms we put forward.
“Launching an OpenData segment on its official website is a very commendable step by the NNPC. We encourage Nigerians to download the audit reports and other data put up by NNPC, study them, and Ask Questions,” the firm said.
Furthermore, BudgIT stated that there was no doubt that the Mr Mele-Kyari led NNPC management has achieved a milestone by making the audited report of all NNPC’s subsidiaries available online, for the first time ever.
“For the past four years, BudgIT, through the Extractives Consultative Forum and with support from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), has been engaging key oil and gas stakeholders annually; including officials from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Civil Society Organisations and private individuals.
“These engagements have centered on ways by which the NNPC can become more transparent, assume, and maintain the status of a commercially viable entity, as its consecutive losses are not sustainable in the long term,” it said.
Dipo Olowookere