By ENIOLA AKIKUOTU
Nigerians in November of 2018 were greeted with an economic proposal perceived to be innocuous by most quarters of the country, by the former Vice president Atiku Abubakar aka Waziri of Privatization scams.

I did a research on the direction of that economic policy what turned out was a disaster, recall this publication

I’ll sell 90% of NNPC if elected, Atiku vows, https://punchng.com/ill-sell-90-of-nnpc-if-elected-atiku-vows/

In the publication above, Atiku proposed to sell 90% of all the NNPC holdings in his future privatization moves, never mind that 56 government establishments collapsed under his privatization scams of the past. Buhari in his mercy has taken up the responsibility of paying the pensions of Atiku's privatization victims read here;

https://www.proshareng.com/news/Pensions/Pension:-FG-begins-payment-of-N17bn-to-NITEL-workers/6735

Can Nigeria survive under a sold NNPC regimen? tough question!!

why does other oil dependent economies maintain a national oil company? in Africa; Nigeria has NNPC, Angola has Sanagol, Algeria has Sonatrach, Egypt has EGPC, Libya has NOC etc.

In the Middle east; Saudi Arabia owns Saudi Aramco, Qatar owns QP, Bahrain owns BAPCO, iraq owns INOC, Syria owns the Al furat, Iran owns NIOC and so on.

In Europe: Russia has Rosneft, Norway has Satoil etc, you can see clearly that every oil dependent economy in Africa, Asia, Europe, middle east maintain an oil company.
Why is it so? A national oil company is the country's stake in its oil riches which translates to the oil wealth of the people.

What does the NNPC do for the Nigerian economy?
In a layman's term, NNPC pays for anything you use that is not produced in Nigeria, in other words, NNPC is your window to the global market.

Let us use your American imported car for example.
You wish to buy a car from the United States, the Japanese manufacturer in the US insisted you must pay in usd for the transaction, unfortunately your local bank account holds the Naira so how did you get the car eventually?
Your bank debits your naira, then pays the dollar equivalent to the US company. smart huh!!

Have you wondered where your bank or your Aboki got the USD to facilitate that transaction? my research took me to a CBN activity called Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) and Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS), these are avenues your bank, BDC (Aboki) and every other licensed forex trader gets his supply from.

Out of curiosity, I decided to dig further where the CBN gets her forex from, the answer wasn't surprising, the NNPC!! through the following common sense processes.
Direct oil Sales (NNPC) (70%)
Petroleum Profit Tax (Oil Companies) (20%)
Royalties (5%)
Penalty for Gas Flaring (5%)
could this be the reason why every oil dependent economy has a national oil company? Is Atiku planning to steal 70% of Nigeria's oil wealth like he stole all the Niger delta sea ports for 25yrs?

We most times follow these politicians around without paying attention to the underlying message of doom they are coming with, Atiku and OBJ orchestrated the most fraudulent privatization heist in the history of this country, read here

https://www.nairaland.com/4839445/atikus-source-wealth-revealed-mohammed/1

Unfortunately, most young people that form today's voting block do not know what OBJ & Atiku represent in Nigeria's politics.
some people ignorantly argue that since NNPC is a cesspit of corruption therefore it has to be sold, my only response is, even as the cesspit of corruption, it still provides 70% of CBN's forex, if sold, where do we get those forex from? What Business is Nigeria doing today that will provide that insane amount of forex for the utilization of over 180m Nigerians? Am i supposed to borrow cars and shoes from Atiku and his friends?

In case you have forgotten so soon how Nigerians landed in poverty due to forex shortages, high cost of living, that was just a tip of what could happen when NNPC sold oil at a lower price, imagine what will happen when NNPC seize to exist.

Like everything Atiku privatized, either ended up in his pocket (Niger delta oil and gas free zones) or died out rightly (Nitel, Alscon, Delta steel, News week etc).

For Nigerians in the mid stream sector of the oil and gas industry (oil servicing companies) warming up to vote Atiku, your case is worse, 60% of your contracts are paid for by the NNPC through a process called cash calls, if NNPC is sold, has Atiku told you who will pay the cash calls? this segment of Nigerians will be the first victim of that demonic proposal, we will be watching their protest at the NNPC headquarters like we watched ex Nitel staffs in protest back in the days.

sound familiar right? https://www.uniglobalunion.org/news/nigeria-nitel-dismissed-78-workers-unions-protest-sack-order

what about the ALSCON workers huh!! sounds familiar? https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/128089-alscon-workers-host-communities-protest-rusals-sack-of-475-nigerians.html

God will be fair to Atiku because this time he sounded the doom Trumpet of his dejavu if Nigerians ignorantly gives him the mandate to forge ahead.

With this plan, the next round of hunger will not be friendly, after voting Atiku, do not complain he promised change but brought chains, already, I can see your chain under an Atiku leadership, good luck as you do your future proud by resisting this scam in the waiting!!

We need a reformed NNPC as proposed by Ibe Kachikwu already endorsed by the US
http://nnpcgroup.com/PublicRelations/NNPCinthenews/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/576/US-Endorses-Ongoing-NNPC-Reforms.aspx

We need to sustain this NNPC reform that ended the perennial yuletide petrol scarcity in Nigeria, we need to sustain the policy that ended hoarding of petroleum products in Nigeria, we need to sustain this reform that ended the theft of over 400,000bbls of crude oil daily, that's what we need, selling NNPC is evil to say the least.

The only beneficiaries of this proposal are Atiku and his friends like peter obi that has the financial war-chest to buy NNPC's assets in bits and pieces, strip the assets, sell them off, become billionaire & walk away.

The big question every Nigerian going to the polls on Saturday must ask himself is; Can you live without the NNPC? by extension, can you live without your cars, smart phones, computers, foreign clothes, deodorant, building materials, books, drugs, cosmetics anything in this country that is not made in Nigeria? if your answer is NO , vote any other candidate that is not Atiku.

Tooòooooo late. We are already ATIKULATED

Na lie Mr dangote.....noting they work under this Govt

Nigeria will never get a functioning refinery until nnpc is sold.

It is just the refineries my friend.

True

Has NNPC ever declare its balance sheet?
let's stop been shallow minded nnpc is a looting corporation now mostly dominated by the northern folks

The Anini of Adamawa has always been a scam

otuekong1:
Has NNPC ever declare its balance sheet?
let's stop been shallow minded nnpc is a looting corporation now mostly dominated by the northern folks

Liar

Tetehjewels:

Liar

prove me wrong

otuekong1:

prove me wrong

The board is made up of 4 northerners , 1 south easterner and 3 others from the south. I can then say its an equal 4/4 split.

I repeat, liar.

NNPC is a scam organisation . Must be sold

Tetehjewels:


The board is made up of 4 northerners , 1 south easterner and 3 others from the south. I can then say its an equal 4/4 split.

I repeat, liar.

what about the staffs

otuekong1:

what about the staffs

Why not list them out for all to see.

Post the link showing the list of staffs. Bloody liar

You mean it never did within the 16 locust years of the PDP?

otuekong1:
Has NNPC ever declare its balance sheet?
let's stop been shallow minded nnpc is a looting corporation now mostly dominated by the northern folks

Tetehjewels:

Why not list them out for all to see.
Post the link showing the list of staffs. Bloody liar

that's d most dumbest thing I have heard

Parada:
You mean it never did within the 16 locust years of the PDP?

even till now

otuekong1:

that's d most dumbest thing I have heard

You are the dumbest poster on nairaland apparently.

You alluded that a core of the staff are northerners and I asked you to post the link showing the list of staff and you suddenly get cold feet and start talkih dumb.

Mumu people plenty for nairaland sha. You seem to be their king

SAI ATIKUOBI FOR BETTER LIFE FOR ALL NIGERIANS....


SAI MR job$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...............JOIN THE PDP FESTIVAL AND ATIKULATE TO VICTORY, JOIN THE WINING TEAM.... #BetterNigeriaWith Atiku Aguero ABUBAKAR.IF BUHARI WINS.....
PETROL PRICE WILL BE INCREASED TO #220
They have also planned to reduce fuel price to #140 before the election and increase it to #220 after the election so that more money would be diverted through fuel subsidy.
BUHARI WILL GIVE MORE CONTRACTS TO HIS RELATIVE
More contracts would be awarded to his relatives and he has asked them to create more account so they can store more money for him there during his last rule.
All this was revealed to me by a relative of Buhari.
Watch out Nigerians, Buhari second tenure will be hell. I voted fore Buhari in 2015 but he is a big disappointment.Despite the fact that buhari has broken all his campaign promises, failed the three key pillars the All Progressives Congress (APC) advertised in its mission statement security, fighting corruption &rebuilding the economy & has been unable to defend the abysmal record of his government, President Muhammadu Buhari wants to preside over Nigeria for another term of four years.

As Nigerians, our fundamental right is to vote Atiku ,to stop the suffering, poverty and hunger that this tyranical government represents, we cant as a nation continue this anymore. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
- To start with, millions of people are suffering and millions are already out of jobs.
- Millions of Nigerians are badly hungry as most cant even feed their kids or family
- Tens of thousands of businesses - both small, medium and big are shut down and closed for business
- Nigerians RARELY commit suicide no matter the situation but in the last two to three years, the rate of suicidal incidences by Nigerians due to the economical disaster being experienced is damn so alarming!


SAI ATIKUOBI FOR PROSPEROUS NIGERIA

Tetehjewels:


You are the dumbest poster on nairaland apparently.

You alluded that a core of the staff are northerners and I asked you to post the link showing the list of staff and you suddenly get cold feet and start talkih dumb.

Mumu people plenty for nairaland sha. You seem to be their king

mr clown,so you think nnpc will easily show you its staff strength
grow up

Tetehjewels:


You are the dumbest poster on nairaland apparently.

You alluded that a core of the staff are northerners and I asked you to post the link showing the list of staff and you suddenly get cold feet and start talkih dumb.

Mumu people plenty for nairaland sha. You seem to be their king

the guy na bloody mugu

otuekong1:

mr clown,so you think nnpc will easily show you its staff strength
grow up

Yet somehow you have access to that information.

You just confirmed my earlier post

The Atiku Abubakar’s NNPC privatization: What you need to know

Ahmed Adamu, PhD

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar made a proclamation that he will privatize NNPC if elected President, and that sparked concerns and curiosities in the minds of some Nigerians, so I decided to write this article to explain the entire concept of NNPC privatization and its effects, so that people will have a better understanding of the intent and the expected outcome of the privatization.

Allowing individuals to acquire shares in the NNPC with government retaining some of the shares will mean more funding into the corporation to carry out its commercial activities relating to the petroleum industry. The money to be generated as a result of the initial public offering of the NNPC will be used to build roads, railways, public houses and hospitals and to fix electricity problem in Nigeria. With individuals putting their money in the NNPC, wastages and corruptions will be reduced, and employment into the NNPC will not be based on nepotism, but based on necessity and competence.

Nigeria will not lose control of the oil and gas wells and reserves for privatizing NNPC; all natural resources will still belong to the federation, and the government decides how to equitably allocate ownership of resources and distribute proceeds from the common resources across the states and local governments. With individual Nigerians becoming shareholders in the NNPC, wealth will be redistributed among Nigerians, thereby reducing poverty. Foreign shareholders will bring foreign capitals into the country, thereby boosting our foreign reserves, improving Nigerian economic strength and strengthening the Naira. As we speak today, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria has reduced by over 60% in the last two years. Now, Ghana has overtaken Nigeria on FDI scale. If NNPC is privatized, government will then have more revenue from taxing the NNPC for more infrastructural development.

Instead of leaving the NNPC in the hands of mafia, let it be listed so that Nigerians will benefit more. NNPC barely generates N2 trillion in a year, but if it is privatized, it can generate up to N13 trillion in a year, because of the resultant minimization of costs, leakages and wastages, and maximization of revenue.

The money to be generated from the equities (NNPC shares) and taxation on the earnings of the NNPC will be used to strengthen new economies in manufacturing, industrial and agricultural sector, so that we will not forever be relying on the declining oil and gas resources. Good to note that, individuals will not be taxed on their NNPC dividends, because Atiku Abubakar promised to end double taxation.

NNPC is one of the inefficient government institutions, with so much political interference, ambiguities, corruption, nepotism and low performance. It needs to be liberalized. Most government corruption originates from the activities that relate to the management of the oil and gas proceeds.

NNPC has been facing challenges in funding upstream operations and obligations, and was not able to raise its potential revenue. Not only in the upstream sector, NNPC failed to effectively manage the downstream sector, which is characterized by scarcities, inconsistent and uncompetitive fuel prices. Despite the abundance of petroleum commodities in Nigeria, the country’s largest import is from the petroleum products, which increases the supply and reduces the value of the Naira in the foreign currency market.

There have been allegations of fraudulent diversion of funds from sales of crude oil, and vague-accounted importations of petroleum products. Some people were alleged to have been paid billions of Naira by the NNPC for importation of nothing.

The NNPC has not provided sufficient refining capacity in the country, which is why greater percentage of Nigeria’s petroleum products are imported. All these happened because NNPC is wholly government owned. If it is a government property, people abuse it, and if it operates at loss or inefficiently, nobody cares, because no external interests are involved. We have seen cases where companies that lack capacities were awarded with oil blocks because they have linkages with the politicians, denying the qualified companies, which is why we have many marginal oil fields in the country. NNPC has lost its international goodwill, because of its inconsistency and political interferences, and this has caused doubt and high business risk in the Nigerian oil industry. Though an oil rich country, Nigeria is the world headquarters of poverty, which explains further the poor management of the oil resources in the country.

We have to ask ourselves these questions: “What is wrong?”, and ”What can we do?” A mere reform or removal of subsidy alone will not work. Even if the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is to be passed into law, there will still be problems. For Nigerians to benefit from oil and gas resources, NNPC has to be profit-driven not politically driven, and the best way to do that is to privatize the corporation and allow individuals to buy its shares, so that the company can function like a commercial and profit-driven entity.

Government has numerous responsibilities and interests, and that’s why it cannot efficiently manage the NNPC alone. NNPC requires huge capital investment and independence to make it competitive to other international oil companies like Total, BP and Shell.

If NNPC is privatized, there will be more competition in both upstream and downstream sectors, which will bring down the prices of petroleum products. Privatization of the NNPC will enable the company to raise more capital to build brand new refineries in Nigeria, which will lead to low petrol price and relieve the Nigerian government from the exorbitant petroleum subsidy payment.

We have seen how privatization of the telecommunication sector resulted in huge investment in the sector, created more jobs, and made telephones available and affordable. This is what will happen when NNPC is privatized, petrol will be available and affordable.

As we speak today, majority of the oil and gas operation/production are carried out by private oil companies, especially Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total. NNPC produces only a small fraction of the national petroleum output because of its inefficiency, and yet spends so much on maintenance and other recurrent expenditures. NNPC owes these companies billions of dollars as outstanding Joint Ventures cash calls. This proves that private companies are more effective than public companies. Privatization of NNPC can see the Nigerian petroleum reserves and output doubled, and natural gas resources optimally harnessed.

As we claim to practice capitalism, the mainstay of the economy should be managed by the efficient private sector. The government should only be responsible for ensuring fair play and providing level playing field for investments to thrive. It is very unnecessary for Nigerian government to keep funding and managing NNPC, while funding infrastructural development and investing on new economies.

Privatization of national oil companies is a global trend and best practice. Nigeria won’t be the first to do it. Major global oil companies are privately owned; even national companies are now being privatized. BP Oil Company was owned by British government, but later, it was privatized, and it is now one of the leading global oil companies. Countries that have fully or partly privatized their national oil companies include Canada, France, Argentina etc. Even Saudi Arabia and Brazil are seriously considering privatization of their national oil companies. It is the best thing for Nigeria, as long as we want an economic paradigm shift and achieve real growth. And that is why Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will consult with experts to ensure smooth privatization of the NNPC, but the government will still retain certain shares of the NNPC. Once NNPC is privatized, it will be relieved from the bondage of the ‘mafia’.

The NNPC Asset Valuation will be done by impartial professionals, who are likely to come from diverse backgrounds and expertise, so as to arrive at the accurate market value of the assets, devoid of discounting, so that Nigerians will benefit optimally from the initial public offering. The privatization will take place in phases, and may take couple of years to be effected.

“Using a dataset of 60 public share offerings by 28 National Oil Companies, it is shown that privatization is associated with comprehensive and sustained improvements in performance and efficiency. Over the seven-year period around the initial privatization offering, return on sales increases by 3.6 percentage points, total output by 40%, and capital expenditure by 47%.” Wolf C. and Pollit M.G. (2008). Therefore, it is in the best interest of Nigeria to privatize NNPC as proposed by H.E. Atiku Abubakar. H.E. Atiku Abubakar will embark on inclusive engagement, awareness, consultations, and considerations before embarking on the NNPC privatization. Nigerians should welcome this development and support Atiku Abubakar when he comes to power to achieve this laudable intention.

Ahmed Adamu, PhD is a Petroleum Economist a
and University Lecturer. He is also the S.A. to Atiku Abubakar on Youth and Strategy