The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI), has commended the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari for deepening the culture of transparency and accountability in the corporation.
Dr Kennie Obateru, the corporation’s spokesman in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said the commendation was conveyed in a letter to Kyari by the its Executive Director Mark Robinson
EITI is a multi-stakeholder coalition that promotes extractives transparency and accountability in over 50 countries.
The statement quoted Robinson as saying that the NNPC had set a good example and could lead in championing transparency for other National Oil Companies (NOCs) in Africa.
Robinson noted that in recognition of NNPC’s commitment to the EITI’s principles, the global body had invited Kyari to speak at its virtual workshop.
According to him, Kyari will speak on the topic: “Learning from Mainstreaming Disclosure Efforts” in December.
“This workshop will explore further opportunities for making the systematic disclosure of extractive data the norm.
“The EITI has welcomed NNPC’s recent transparency efforts such as the monthly publication of its Financial and Operations Reports since 2016 as well as recent publication of the corporation’s 2018 and 2019 Audited Financial Statements (AFS).
“These efforts demonstrate the corporation’s continued commitment to openness in its business dealings,” he said.
Robinson said that a review of the group’s Audited Financial Statement showed that NNPC had reduced its losses by 99.7 per cent from N803 billion in 2018 to N1.7 billion in 2019.
He said this was attributable to a huge increase in profit from the operations of the subsidiaries.
“This is an indication of good practice and commitment to principles of transparency and accountability.” he said.
He also affirmed its support for the NNPC in tailoring monthly financial and operations reports and financial statements in line with the EITI standard and expectations for EITI supporting companies.
It will be recalled that Kyari had made opening the books of the corporation a cardinal aspect of its management under its Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) initiative, which he launched on assumption of office in July, 2019.
Reps recommend indefinite suspension of airports’ concession
The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government to suspend indefinitely the plan to concession airports until all issues have been addressed.
The House Committee on Aviation, which criticised the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, for failing to appear before it in Abuja on Monday, said it had been receiving petitions against the move.
The Federal Government had announced concession plan for four international airports. They are the Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt airports.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Nnolim Nnaji, said, “We are all aware of the terrible impact of COVID-19 on the aviation sector, which will take a while for the industry to recover. So, we should strive to do whatever is necessary to help stabilise the sector.
“You may recall that in September or thereabout, this committee had interactions with the representatives of the labour unions on this subject matter. During the meeting, which was sequel to our earlier intervention over the unions’ strike action against the concession, a lot of concerns were raised by the representatives of the labour unions regarding the airports’ concession.
“Among the concerns were lack of transparency in the exercise, labour issues, the Chinese loans, the legal issues that may arise from the existing concessions and the lack of proper valuation of the present status of the affected airports, among others.
“Based on the outcome of the meeting with the labour unions, the committee invited the Minister of Aviation and the heads of agencies under him to discuss the issue of the airports concession.”
