Senate commends NNPC on anti-corruption efforts, drive for profitability

*The Nigeria Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes commends the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for efforts at improving profitability

*For the first time in 43 years, and as part of the evolving culture of transparency and accountability in the Corporation, the NNPC published its Audited Financial Statements for 2018 and 2019 ─Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As regards the level of implementation of Nigeria’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy by the Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Senate has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for its efforts towards entrenching transparency and stamping out corruption from its system.

Sen. Suleiman Abdu Kwari, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, gave the commendation at a hearing held at the National Assembly (NASS) Complex, Abuja, FCT.

The hearing session was organised to assess the level of implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy by government agencies and parastatals.

Sen. Kwari, while speaking at the hearing, noted that it is heartwarming to learn that the NNPC was making great strides towards profitability.

He urged the Corporation to sustain the gains recorded so far for the good of the country.

Dr. Kennie Obateru, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC in a statement Thursday, June 19, 2021, in Abuja, FCT, said Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Corporation, in his presentation at the Senate Committee’s hearing, related how the NNPC is championing the fight against corruption in the oil and gas industry in the country.

Malam Kyari stated the state oil firm emplaces measures to curb incidence of corruption across its various business portfolios, and by enlists as a partner company of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

As part of its commitment to the war against corruption, the NNPC has set up processes and structures that are irreversible which would ensure transparency and accountability, said the NNPC GMD.

He said: “We have created an anti-corruption desk in NNPC that engages the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies on a regular basis.

“The desk ensures that in all our operations, every staff complies to the code of conduct procedures with consequence management.

“We have established regulatory compliant governance charter and transparency policy; this is a mark of our compliance to the anti-corruption strategy.”

According to him, the Corporation has automated its business operations thereby reducing an opportunity for discretion to the barest minimum as part of measures to promote institutional framework for entrenching the culture of transparency in its operations.

The statement noted Kyari further disclosed that the Corporation, on its own, has reported several incidents of infractions, such as products diversion and crude oil theft to the Police, EFCC, and other investigating agencies of the Federal Government to stem corruption within the Oil and Gas Industry.

“For the first time in 43 years, NNPC, as a part of the evolving culture of transparency and accountability, published its Audited Financial Statements for 2018 and 2019. We are going to publish that of the 2020.

“The AFS is the only document that tells how a company does its transaction. We are happy that by the time the 2020 AFS will be published, Nigerians will see the dividends of our accountability.

“Mr. Chairman, no National Oil Company does what we are doing today.”

He added that in collaboration with security agencies, the Corporation has reduced the incidence of pipeline vandalism to four percent across the country.

The NNPC Chief, however, decried the rise in smuggling of petroleum products, which he stated has become a national challenge that must be addressed urgently to stem the huge loss to the country.