The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) on Monday asked the new management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to be transparent in its operations to disabuse the mind of Nigerians who see the national oil company as overtly opaque.
Dr Billy Gillis-Harry, who is the PETROAN’s National President, stated this while speaking on Channels Television.
According to him, the NNPC has over the years done things in the way and manner that makes Nigerians to always be suspicious of it, and therefore urged the company to keep its books open.
The oil retailers boss was also of the opinion that local refineries do not have access to adequate supply of crude oil, and therefore advocates that the authorities should work towards making sure that in the coming years, 3 million barrels are reserved for the refineries that are springing up all over the country.
He called on the government bodies concerned, including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the NNPC to ensure that this proposal works.
He stated that NNPC has created a kind of environment where it’s now difficult for the public to trust them with anything. “And I think it will be in the best interest, not just of the management, but of Nigeria, that that mindset should be changed by the current management.
“ Bayo Ojulari is coming from the private sector, a very well-organised private sector, because he’s coming from a Shell background.”
He said he believes that Bayo Ojulari and his team, with Musa Kida, who is the Chairman, and who is also coming from Total have gone through a very regulated and very efficient system. And I think that they should bring that experience to bear on how the Nigerian oil industry should be.
He urged NNPC to rise up from the doldrums and raise its head up and say, for so many years we didn’t do it right, but now we want to do it right. “I think that there is no time that is better than doing that,”
He reiterated some of the demands of the industry, which include: raising crude oil production, transparent operations and creating a smooth relationship with host communities in the Niger Delta.
“Our demand is simple, which is that transparency should be key. The production of crude oil should be increased. We should be able to do as much as possible to make sure that the host communities of the Niger Delta are friendly to encourage the businesses to come in,” he pointed out.
