Rebirth of NNPC best legacy of Buhari’s administration – Group

One of the many transformational legacies that will be associated with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will be the rebirth of the National Oil Company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), All Progressive Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign says.

NNPC has been incorporated as a Limited Liability Company, subject to the Companies and Allied Matters Act sequel to the enactment of the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA) with the Certificate of Incorporation presented to President Buhari two weeks ago.

The APC Legacy Awareness and Campaign, a voluntary think-tank group of the governing party, said the repositioning would set NNPC on the path to becoming a world-class institution.

The group in a statement signed by Ismail Ahmed, Lanre Issa-Onilu, Tolu Ogunlesi and Salihu Lukman said the new NNPC is itself another legislation that has seen comprehensive reform under President Buhari’s watch, for the first time since it was originally passed more than three decades ago.

According to them, the president’s promise to bring long overdue efficiency and transparency to the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources is being backed by action and the journey has only just started .The APC think-tank said under the president’s watch, since 2015, the national oil company has achieved many feats, including published audited financial statements for 2018, 2019 and 2020 since the NNPC came into existence 43 years ago.

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“Commenced clearing the backlog of cash call arrears owed International Oil Companies (IOCs) which were inherited from previous administrations, and amounting to more than five billion dollars.

Completed the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) Phase 2, doubling its capacity to 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas.

“Commenced construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas pipeline, Nigeria’s biggest-ever domestic gas pipeline project. Commenced the total revamp of the Port Harcourt refinery – yet another industry jinx being broken. Resolved a 12-year-old dispute surrounding (Oil Mining Licence) OML 118, unlocking more than $10 billion of potential investment held up by the dispute.

“Completed and commissioned an integrated gas handling facility at Oredo, Edo State, which, in addition to producing 84 million cubic feet (mmcf) per day of lean gas (for power generation), will be the largest onshore LPG plant in Nigeria, producing an estimated 330 tonnes per day.

“The crowning achievement has been the presidential assent to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), after two decades of unsuccessful attempts. With the emergence of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), a new chapter has definitely commenced in the Nigerian oil and gas sector,” the statement further read.