Mr Garba Deen Muhammad, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC Limited, has criticized Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s declaration that the Federal Government has failed in the oil and gas business and should exit the sector. It called his remarks confusing and contradictory.
He explained that the governor’s statements were contradictory and confusing because the facts were there for everyone to see.
He said it was not true that NNPC Limited has not been remitting to Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), insisting that the revenue from Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) was from the oil industry.
“He said NNPC Limited has not been making remittances to FAAC and yet in the same breath, he said it is income from PPT, royalty, and income tax that is keeping this country.
“The confusion is where do the PPT, royalty, and income tax come from? The PPT is the petroleum profit tax, have you seen anybody pay profit tax without making a profit? Or pay Royalty without production?
“These things don’t just fall from the sky. These payments are possible because somebody is working hard to make it possible”, he added.
“The Governor, in this instance at least is shockingly ill be informed”.
He should read the PIA. The passage of the PIA and the patriotic and courageous signing of it by Mr President effectively disengages the government from running the NNPC Ltd. The highest decision-making body of NNPC Ltd is the Board of Directors, which is chaired by a private individual not by the Minister of Petroleum as the case was before the PIA.
“Sadly, Gov. El Rufai should be this poorly informed, Muhammed said.
Recall that Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily that whatever the government managed turned out bad.
According to El Rufai, “nothing had changed with the commercialization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company in July 2022,” adding that “NNPC was Nigeria’s biggest problem and should be privatized.”
El-Rufai maintained that though the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, was trying his best, the company had failed and had no business being in the sector.
