Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, says the public listing of the company is in sight.
He spoke on Tuesday during the CeraWeek Conference in Houston, United States.
Speaking on whether the NNPC will have public shareholders and if the government will give up its shares in the company, Kyari said it is spelt out in the law establishing the company.
“What happened was that there was a reform process backed by law. It is called the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and what that did was provide a pathway to getting this company quoted so that others can buy shares. So, it does create that opportunity. It never existed in the past,” he said.
“Therefore, ultimately, at maturity, this company will be owned by others. The law anticipates that within three years of the incorporation of the company, you can start the process, but it is within sight.”
‘NNPC CRITICAL TO NIGERIA’S RESOURCE MANAGEMENT’
Speaking further during the conference, Kyari said the NNPC is pivotal to Nigeria’s resource management and funding.
“Everything that we do in our country has a lot of connection with what happens in the NNPC. And therefore, in the past, this company was a corporation clearly owned by the government, but it was not a commercial company,” Kyari said.
“It does many things typical of past national oil companies, and we needed to move from that situation through a reformed process that took us to where we are today, converting to a fully limited liability country.
“That means it is answerable to its shareholders. I understand today that the shareholders are largely the overall population of the country; it’s very understandable.”
Also, Kyari said, through the PIA, NNPC has transitioned into a company that pays taxes and has become profitable.
“What it did was create a company that must pay taxes and royalties and, at the end, be able to provide dividends to its shareholders. It is clearly not a money-losing business,” he said.
Kyari reiterated that NNPC is profit-oriented and has progressed “from a loss-making company to a profit-making company.”.
The NNPC, he said, is not just able to provide dividends to shareholders and create value for its stakeholders and partners in a manner that benefits all but ultimately is a fully accountable company that can migrate to a corporate company.