El-Rufai: NNPC is a big problem to Nigeria

The Federal Government has failed in the oil and gas business and should get out of the sector, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said.

He said this on Thursday while speaking at KADINVEST, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency.

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Speaking on the theme of this year’s KADINVEST, ‘Building a Resilient Economy’, the governor said whatever the government manages turns out bad.

He said sectors doing well in the country like entertainment, telecoms, fintech and others have no government involvement.

According to him, nothing has changed with the commercialisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company in July 2022.

He said though the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari is trying his best, the company has failed and has no business being in the sector.

He said: “There is no reason why the Nigerian Government should still be in the oil and gas sector. It should just get out, it has failed. By every measure it has failed.

“We are living on taxes. It is PPT, royalties and income tax that is keeping this country going. Because NNPC claims that subsidy has taken all the oil revenues, I don’t believe that. So, the government should sell everything —the oil and gas sector. I have been making this point since 1999 when I was head of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). I have not changed my mind.

“The government should get out of whatever is left of electricity. Leave it to the private sector. Maintain the environment. The money will come. Nothing has changed for NNPC other than adding L to it for the limited. They are still taking our money. They are still declaring profits that we don’t see the dividends.

“NNPC is a big problem to Nigeria and unless we resolve it, it will bring Nigeria to its knees. It’s a systemic and institutional problem, it’s beyond one person.”