The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has said that he is hopeful that the corporation will declare dividends in 2020, despite the challenges posed by the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement from NNPC’s Twitter handle, this was disclosed by Kyari while speaking at an interactive session with the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC), in Abuja on Friday.
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He said, “Our vision is that NNPC will become a company of excellence and declare dividends to Nigerians and shareholders. We are optimistic that at the end of 2020, NNPC will declare dividends to Nigerians in spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Mr Kyari said that accountability and transparency were key to turning NNPC into an efficient and profit-oriented enterprise.
He said that it was what informed the decision of the corporation to publish its operational and financial reports monthly.
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Mr Kyari said: “NNPC has never published its audited financial statement in 43 years. We came and started doing that and released the 2018 financial statement. We were not afraid of doing that and there were a lot of criticisms that we lost money in refinery operations and pipeline business.
“We went ahead and published the 2019 audited report and was [sic] able to learn and cut cost and became more efficient. There is no company in the country which has cut its losses within one financial year by N800 billion. We have improved efficiency by cutting 97% in our losses.
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“These are truly difficult times for our industry. But I am proud to say that we’re able to maintain our obligations to the Federation Account for seven months without any fail despite the huge impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the oil and gas industry,” he said.
This appears to be a departure from the past when the meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee between the Federal Government and State Governments were sometimes stalled due to disagreements over alleged non-remittance of some funds to the Federation Account by the NNPC.
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GMD @MKKyari: “Our vision is that #NNPC will become a company of excellence and declare dividends to Nigerians and shareholders. We are optimistic that at the end of 2020, #NNPC should be able to declare dividends to #Nigerians in spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.” pic.twitter.com/Oyt45oWOmp
— NNPC Limited (@nnpclimited) November 21, 2020
GMD @MKKyari: “#NNPC has never published its audited financial statement in 43 yrs.We came & started doing that & released the 2018 financial statement.We were not afraid of doing that & there were a lot of criticisms that we lost money in refinery operations & pipeline business" pic.twitter.com/yf6Ybha7KX
— NNPC Limited (@nnpclimited) November 21, 2020
