The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Mallam Mele Kyari Tuesday told the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts that the Company has nothing to hide.
The disclosure by the CEO came in the wake of the Committee’s request to the Company seeking the appearance of heads of NNPC subsidiaries before the Committee.
“We have nothing to hide, Mr. Chairman. We recognize that this Company belongs to the over 200 million Nigerians as its shareholders, thus we have been accountable and transparent and we will continue to remain so.”
“I agree with you that we can be more transparent. Can we do something different from this? Absolutely yes. Are we doing enough? Yes, we are doing more than enough. No National oil company in this world publishes its audited statement of account. There is no company that publishes its monthly report as we do.
“Therefore, I expect that you should congratulate us that we are doing more than expectations in terms of transparency and accountability. We owe this to Nigerians because it is their company and we sincerely believe tat this companies art owned by the over 200 million Nigerians, we are accountable to them and we must be transparent by every means possible.
“But as we do this, we must also recognize that we are running a business on their behalf Nd this business has rules and responsibilities and part of it is to have report of this nature which the Auditor General endorses by law for them to delver on.”
On the ruling of the committee, the GMD said “It is still very fair because I know that this is a very fair parliament. You are representatives of the people and so, have a responsibility to protect the people. You also have a responsibility to allow us to speak.”
Reacting to the reported missing 107 million barrel of crude oil, Kyari said “I believe that this parliament represent all Nigerians collectively. We can have individual differences, but we all represent the interest of Nigerians. The image of Nigeria is very important.”
“No National Oil Company in the world is as transparent as we are. We shall comply with the House Committee’s requirement,” Mallam Kyari stated.
