The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has linked the decline in the production and price of crude oil in 2020 and the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to the decline in its revenue.
Mele Kyari, group managing director of the NNPC made this known in a statement in which he said the Corporation has consolidated on its remarkable achievement, by publishing the Audited Financial Statements (AFS) on its official website.
The publication stated that the action followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent announcement of the declaration of N287 billion Profit After Tax (PAT) in the year 2020.
Garba Deen Muhammad, spokesman of the corporation quoted Buhari as saying: “I have further directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to timely publish the Audited Financial Statements in line with the requirements of the law and as follow up to our commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability by public institutions.”
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Muhammad‘s statement read in part; “In compliance with the President’s directive, the NNPC has fulfilled this very important statutory requirement by publishing its Audited Financial Statements today.
“Among the highlights of the 2020 AFS is the Corporation’s group profit which rose from a loss position of N1.7billion in 2019 to a profit of N287bn in 2020, for the first time in 44 years.
“The Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mal. Mele Kyari had at various times since the President’s declaration of profit, attributed the turnaround to aggressive cost-cutting, automation of the system, and renegotiation of contracts downwards by about 30 percent, among other tough measures.
“Further highlights of the AFS revealed that while the Corporation’s group financial position increased in total current assets by 18.7% compared to that of 2019, its total current liabilities increased by 11.4% within the same period.
“The group’s working capital remained below the line at N4.56trillion in 2020 as against N4.44trillion in 2019, the AFS further revealed.
“Similarly, the Corporation’s group revenue for the 2020 financial year stood at N3.718 trillion as against N4.634 trillion in 2019, a decrease that could be attributed to the decline in the production and price of crude oil due to the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is the third consecutive year that the NNPC is publishing its AFS, having done so for 2018 and 2019”.
