BY Aisha Victoria Hasheem.

"If we don’t kill NNPC, NNPC will kill us" are the emphatic words spoken by Governor Nasir El-Rufai at this year’s Wole Soyinka Media Lecture series.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the state oil corporation through which the federal government of Nigeria regulates and participates in the country’s petroleum industry. The petroleum industry in Nigeria is the largest on the African continent producing 2.2 million barrels daily and contributing about 70% to Government revenue. Established in 1977 by current President Mohammedu Buhari, the NNPC manages joint ventures between the Nigerian Federal Government and foreign multinational corporations to conduct petroleum exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing.

Well! According to El-Rufai, the NNPC has been causing more harm than good, as the corporation has constituted itself as a parallel government over the years. In his view, Nigeria would be better off if the NNPC is scrapped. He explained further that the death of NNPC would allow for the coming on board of a brand new company that would be commercialized and capitalized.

There is no doubt that the NNPC has not been able to reach its full potential failing to enable Nigerians to capitalize its natural resources for growth and development. The NNPC faces major distractions with corruption scandals and allegations of mismanagement. In 2008, a US company called Willsbros Group admitted to making corrupt payments totaling over $6.3 million to officials at NNPC in return for assistance in obtaining contracts. Similarly, in 2013 the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor blew the whistle on $49.8 billion unremitted funds by the NNPC, only to be responded to with a suspension from office by the then President Goodluck Jonathan.

El-Rufai’s evidence against the NNPC includes:

‘’ In 2012, it sold N2.77 trillion worth of ‘domestic’ crude oil but paid only N1.66 trillion to the Federation Account. In 2013, it earned N2.66 trillion but paid N1.56 trillion. In 2014, N2.64 trillion but remitted N1.44 trillion, while between January and May 2015, it earned N733.36 billion and remitted only N473.2 billion. That means that the NNPC only remitted about 58 per cent of the monies earned between 2012 and the first half of 2015. A company with the audacity to retain 42 per cent of a country’s money has become a veritable parallel republic.’’

Any ordinary Nigerian will no doubt identify the concerns of the Kaduna state Governor El-Rufai, as there is clear evidence of embezzlement of funds with no repercussions or arrests in the world’s third poorest country - Nigeria. Governor El-Rufai also emphasized the need for fresh strategic ideas and a commitment to reform. He advised the new government to:

‘’ Replace the NNPC with brand new organizations that are fit for purpose, among others, a commercialized and corporatized national oil company and new industry regulators. This new national oil company should be capitalized once and for all, and then freed to fend for itself like other national oil companies do, seeking its financing independently from the financial markets and paying due taxes and royalties’’

He hit the nail on the head when he observed that Nigerians could no longer afford to maintain the NNPC while a more than 70% of the population live under abject poverty.