Stakeholders insist on profitability as NNPC reduces losses

Losses of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), put in the region of ₦N803 billion in 2018, reduced to ₦N1.7 billion in 2019, the organisation’s second audited report revealed yesterday.

Reacting to the document, which was released in Abuja, stakeholders in the nation’s oil and gas sector, while applauding the development, insisted that the national oil firm was lagging behind when compared with its peers in other climes.

The corporation, had five months ago, published its 2018 audited financial statement after much pressure from Nigerians.

According to its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Umar Ajiya, the 2019 document witnessed reduction in administrative expenses from N894 billion in the preceding year to N696 billion in the period under review.

Most of the corporation’s subsidiaries posted improved results. The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC) recorded N479 billion profit in 2019 compared to its ₦N179 billion figure of 2018, representing a 167 per cent increase.

The Integrated Data Sciences Limited (IDSL) posted N23 billion for the period as against the N154 million achieved in 2018. The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) made N14.2 billion in contrast to the N9.3 billion of 2018.

Ajiya said the refineries sustained its unprofitability, noting that the situation could change in 2020 due to cost optimisation measures.

The CFO explained that the impressive scorecards were largely driven by cost effectiveness, contract renegotiations and operational efficiency.

Reacting, Chief Executive Officer, Mudiame International Limited and Mudiame Welding Institute Limited, Prof. Sunny Eromosele, harped on NNPC’s return to profitability like others state oil firms in the world.

He maintained that poor management and lack of vision were undoing the corporation.

In his remarks, an energy expert and Partner at Odujinrin and Adefulu, Adeoye Adefulu, commended the new lease of transparency in the corporation.

To former president of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economists (NAEE), Prof. Wunmi Iledare, the fresh air would improve the country’s economic performance.

Another energy expert at the University of Ibadan, Adeola Adenikinju, corroborated Iledare. He was quick to add that the “current development is not near enough.”