At least N4.5trn was generated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the federation within the last 10 months, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mele Kyari, has disclosed.
Kyari, while stating this in Abuja on Wednesday during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance, also promised that better days were ahead as reforms contained in the Petroleum Industry Act had placed the company at par with its peers across the globe.
He stated, “The NNPC Limited that is a creation of the National Assembly requires that we conduct business transparently and profitably in line with provisions of the law, to create value for shareholders, and not to lose money, and continue to add value and pay dividends to shareholders.
“I’m glad to inform you that as at October, we were able to deliver N4.5tn into the federation account in 2023. Every national oil company has a trading company. We have always had one which never worked prior to the PIA implementation.
“Currently, NNPC Ltd is delivering on its mandate through the PIA reforms that has brought us to be at par with our peers across the globe and not to lose money anymore.”
Kyari said the company had been expanding in business like most national oil companies in Africa. He noted that the sector would be more investment-driven by the time the wide margin in exchange rates and import and export windows were narrowed.
He added, “There is always a parallel market in every country. There is also an import and export window in every country, even in the developed world.
“But there is always a narrow gap between the two, and it takes time for you to have stability in this gap so that you have a low margin between the two for a sustained period of time, then businesses will thrive.
“I am very confident that by the end of the first quarter of next year, that margin will be narrowed, and stability will come, and you will see others coming into the market,” he said.
