TheCitizen - It's all about you
  • Home
  • Headlines
  • Latest News
  • Governance
  • Business
  • Financial Crimes
  • Opinion
  • Editorials
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Headlines
  • Latest News
  • Governance
  • Business
  • Financial Crimes
  • Opinion
  • Editorials
No Result
View All Result
TheCitizen - It's all about you
No Result
View All Result

Going public? – The Nation

The Citizen by The Citizen
June 7 2021
in Public Affairs
A A
0
Going public? – The Nation
22
SHARES
734
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • NNPC should rather sell its 20 per cent stake in Dangote Refineries to the public

Talk of yet another of Nigeria’s unending contradictions: a national oil corporation that couldn’t get its four refineries running, with the fourth only recently outsourced to a foreign entity for refurbishment – reportedly pushing for a pie in the world’s largest single train plant. That is the story of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said to be in talks with Dangote Refineries and Petrochemical Complex for a 20 per cent stake in the $15 billion plant.

The move, according to NNPC’s spokesman, Kennie Obateru “was in line with a Federal Government directive which stipulates the mandatory participation of the corporation in any privately-owned refinery that exceeds 50,000 barrels per day capacity, in keeping with its statutory role of safeguarding national energy security”.

He further averred that “this is a deliberate move to ensure that the risk associated with refinery business does not weigh solely on Dangote Industries and also a bold statement that the government is ready to encourage private investors in building refineries”. In the same vein, he assured that this would not undercut its commitment to the rehabilitation of its own refineries and the strengthening of the domestic refineries sector. In all, the corporation is said to have identified at least six refinery projects in which it intends to seek equity participation.

Well said.

First, it makes eminent sense that the Federal Government would seek to have a share of the behemoth like the Dangote Refinery whose entry into the refinery sector, aside being a game-changer, also constitutes something of a strategic national asset. That the product in question – oil – is the country’s mainstay and hence its life-blood makes it doubly so and with it the need for the government to pay more than a passing interest. Moreover, it is hard to imagine a country with our size and diversity allowing a private entity access to untrammeled market dominance, particularly in a strategic sector like petroleum, without undermining the essence of market efficiency, fairness and competition – the twin pillars of free market enterprise – and the nation’s long-term interests.

We are here talking of an environment with neither perceptible anti-trust tradition nor effective legislative instruments against oligopolistic tendencies. As against what now seems like an afterthought, we would have expected the government to have put such considerations on the front burner from the very beginning. To imagine that this is where the drivers of the liberalisation process are supposed to berth is to appreciate why the government appears rather late in the day in addressing this particular lacuna.

In all, the real issue is why the NNPC, with its historic record of inefficiency and corruption, should be the agency saddled with this task on behalf of the Nigerian people. Here, it seems to us that part of the problem is the inability of the Federal Government and the NNPC to define both the mission and vision of the corporation. It explains why a national oil corporation that started off with a sworn mission to lead the charge in both upstream and downstream sectors of the industry has in the course of the years been reduced to a mere rent collector. The time has come for the corporation to refocus.

And who says that the 20 per cent stake could not be sold to the public even as a prelude to making the company go public in no distant future? We believe that the latter is the way to go if only to guarantee the company’s long-term future and to assure the kind of transparency, confidence and regulatory standards that publicly quoted companies engender.

Whereas the country has seen too many private entities rise and fall with their founders, one of the enduring lessons from their stories is the need to ensure broad-based ownership and succession planning. Without these being in place, permanence and continuity are at once hampered. This is one sector that the Federal Government cannot afford to take chances.

Share9Tweet6
Previous Post

On NDLEA renewed offensive – Thisday

Next Post

De Bruyne wins PFA Player of the Year award

Related Posts

Overhaul Nigeria’s prisons – Punch
Public Affairs

Overhaul Nigeria’s prisons – Punch

July 3 2025
ICPC secures conviction against aviation worker over fake employment
Public Affairs

Second term bid interfering with governance – Punch

July 1 2025
The 2027 deadline for CBT examinations – The Sun
Public Affairs

The 2027 deadline for CBT examinations – The Sun

June 22 2025
Maryam Abacha’s forged revisionism – Punch
Public Affairs

Maryam Abacha’s forged revisionism – Punch

June 22 2025
Benue carnage: Beyond army chief’s relocation – Punch
Public Affairs

Benue carnage: Beyond army chief’s relocation – Punch

June 17 2025
Nigeria’s manufacturing: A call for revamp – Punch
Public Affairs

Nigeria’s manufacturing: A call for revamp – Punch

June 11 2025
Next Post
De Bruyne wins PFA Player of the Year award

De Bruyne wins PFA Player of the Year award

Nigerian footballer drowns in Belarus

Nigerian footballer drowns in Belarus

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

FROM THE GRASSROOTS

Olubadan dies at 90

Olubadan dies at 90

by The Editor
July 8 2025
0

...

Lagos Assembly summons AG over delayed implementation of LG law

Lagos Assembly summons AG over delayed implementation of LG law

by The Editor
July 1 2025
0

...

Boston Museum returns looted artefacts to Oba of Benin

Boston Museum returns looted artefacts to Oba of Benin

by The Editor
June 29 2025
0

...

CAN advises Miyetti Allah to tame violent members

Imo villagers decry armed herdsmen presence in farmlands

by The Editor
June 13 2025
0

...

APPOINTMENTS

Gunmen abduct passengers in Ondo

Ondo Assembly confirms 15 commissioner-nominees

by The Editor
July 1 2025
0

...

Dalori takes over as APC acting chairman

Dalori takes over as APC acting chairman

by The Editor
June 28 2025
0

...

Sierra Leone President succeeds Tinubu as new ECOWAS Chairman

Sierra Leone President succeeds Tinubu as new ECOWAS Chairman

by The Editor
June 22 2025
0

...

Police Inspectors appeal to IGP over unpaid salary arrears

Police Inspectors lament delayed promotion, appeal to IGP, PSC

by The Editor
June 17 2025
0

...

ODDITIES

Three masqueraders land in prison for flogging Enugu residents

Three masqueraders land in prison for flogging Enugu residents

by The Editor
June 29 2025
0

Police Inspector loses life by accidental discharge from son

Police Inspector loses life by accidental discharge from son

by The Editor
June 17 2025
0

Truck runs into Christmas procession in Gombe

Gombe perm sec, four others die from electrocution

by The Editor
June 14 2025
0

GLOBAL NEWS

Flash floods claim 27 lives in Texas

Flash floods claim 27 lives in Texas

by The Editor
July 8 2025
0

...

US deports eight men to South Sudan after legal battle

US deports eight men to South Sudan after legal battle

by The Editor
July 6 2025
0

...

Ex-Equatorial Guinea anti-corruption chief with over 400 sextapes faces 18-year jail term

Ex-Equatorial Guinea anti-corruption chief with over 400 sextapes faces 18-year jail term

by The Editor
July 3 2025
0

...

Iran vows retaliation if Trump enacts threats

Iran orders suspension of cooperation with UN nuclear agency

by The Editor
July 2 2025
0

...

Three die in African Union helicopter crash

Three die in African Union helicopter crash

by The Editor
July 2 2025
0

...

State of the States

Bandits snatch Xmas foodstuffs, drinks from man on bike

Kaduna debunks curfew rumour in Kakuri community

by The Editor
July 1 2025
0

...

Kogi schools to reopen Sept 14

FG grants Kogi govt 15 mining licences to tap mineral resources

by The Editor
June 28 2025
0

...

Lagos govt denies involvement in demolition of Obi’s brother’s property

Lagos govt denies involvement in demolition of Obi’s brother’s property

by The Editor
June 26 2025
0

...

Islamic New Year: Jigawa declares Friday public holiday

Islamic New Year: Jigawa declares Friday public holiday

by The Editor
June 26 2025
0

...

Plugin Install : Widget Tab Post needs JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Trump hits Japan, South Korea, others with new tariffs

Trump hits Japan, South Korea, others with new tariffs

July 8 2025
Flash floods claim 27 lives in Texas

Flash floods claim 27 lives in Texas

July 8 2025
ADC begins takeover of PDP structures in Northern states

ADC raises alarm over Tinubu’s plot to destabilise coalition

July 8 2025
Nigeria, Netherlands reopen double taxation agreement

Nigeria, Netherlands reopen double taxation agreement

July 8 2025

EDITORIAL REVIEW

Overhaul Nigeria’s prisons – Punch

Overhaul Nigeria’s prisons – Punch

by The Editor
July 3 2025
0

ICPC secures conviction against aviation worker over fake employment

Second term bid interfering with governance – Punch

by The Editor
July 1 2025
0

The 2027 deadline for CBT examinations – The Sun

The 2027 deadline for CBT examinations – The Sun

by The Editor
June 22 2025
0

Maryam Abacha’s forged revisionism – Punch

Maryam Abacha’s forged revisionism – Punch

by The Editor
June 22 2025
0

Benue carnage: Beyond army chief’s relocation – Punch

Benue carnage: Beyond army chief’s relocation – Punch

by The Editor
June 17 2025
0

Opinion

Tinubu cancels national broadcast, to address Nigerians from N’Assembly

Tinubu, The Audacity To Hope: Two years after

by The Editor
June 12 2025
0

...

Supreme Court affirms Mbah as Enugu State Governor

2027: Mbah, PDP and newfound political romance in Enugu

by The Editor
May 17 2025
0

...

Nigeria should emulate India’s blueprint for development

Nigeria should emulate India’s blueprint for development

by The Editor
April 21 2025
0

...

Much ado about immortalising Humphrey Nwosu

Much ado about immortalising Humphrey Nwosu

by The Editor
March 31 2025
0

...

Plugin Install : Popular Post Widget need JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Home
  • Headlines
  • Latest News
  • Governance
  • Business
  • Financial Crimes
  • Opinion
  • Editorials

© 2024 TheCitizen Ng. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Headlines
  • Latest News
  • Governance
  • Business
  • Financial Crimes
  • Opinion
  • Editorials

© 2024 TheCitizen Ng. All Rights Reserved.