Nigeria Loses $15bn To Non-Passage Of PIB - Kachikwu

THE Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, on Wednesday said Nigeria loses $15 billion (about N3.3 trillion) to non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Kachikwu, who stated this while appearing before the Senate during the ministerial screening, said the new government would, however, tinker with the bill to ensure its passage.
“I will not be constrained by lack of PIB to continue to tinker with the operations of NNPC to ensure efficiency. As long as we would like to pass a holistic PIB, which will be cumbersome, it is better we break it up and take it in parts.


“We lose $15 billion yearly due to lack of PIB, because we have started the bill and no investor is willing to invest in an uncertain environment,” he said.
He spoke at length on the reforms he already put in place at the NNPC, adding that the revival of the refineries was paramount to his agenda.
“When I cancel contracts, it is not against the person behind the contract, but the terms of the contract. Contracts was the problem, structure was the problem. The expenditure in NNPC was so high. A lot of services in NNPC is done by subsidiaries. NNPC spends 40 per cent of its earnings.
“I am putting together NNPC manual which will be a monthly publication of events in the corporation. We have about 12 to 13,000 staff and we have started a weekly broadcast for NNPC staff. I also give weekly update to the president. Information to the public is a right of the citizens.
“We have also contracted PricewaterhouseCooper for a forensic audit of NNPC from 2010 to 2014 and their audit report is almost ready,” he said.


He also said some factors were militating against the take-off of companies licensed to build refineries, as, according to him, many of those who applied for licences to build refineries did not understand the financial implication of such a project.
He said some others were out to use the license to have access to crude oil.
Kachikwu also said NNPC would distribute free gas cylinders to Nigerians in 2016, as a way of popularising the use of gas.


He said that the NNPC was not planning to reduce pump price of petroleum products, adding that the corporation was working on the capacity of the refineries.
“There was no plan to increase price of PMS. We have enough fuel to last another 50 weeks. Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna are being maintained. The landed cost of imported products is higher, that is why we want to make our refineries work.
“When refineries work, kerosene will continue to be available. We want to make cylinder available free to all,” he said.


“Apart from being someone from the South-South for which the environment is a major concern to me, gas flaring cannot be a commercial way of dealing with issues.
“Although we approached gas flaring from a position of penalty for flared gas, we need to begin to look at taking away flaring from a position of investment in the translation of flare to money.
“To stop flare, we need investment and a lot of that money is not there, so we need to provide a National Master Gas Plan which must be gazzetted,” he added.
Tribune.