‘NNPC has operated professionally’ — Ima Niboro says company deserves praise for handling of petrol supply

Ima Niboro, former spokesperson to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, says Nigerians should commend the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd for its handling of petrol supply in the country despite many obstacles.

“The NNPC has played a very responsible role, especially under its present leadership,” Niboro said in an interview with TheCable.

“Since it became a company, it’s been run professionally. But they have gone over and beyond in the things that they have had to do for the nation as it’s the energy supplier of the last resort.”

The former presidential spokesperson said the NNPC Ltd. has been “shouldering over N600 per litre on every petrol that we are consuming in this country,” noting that the “landing cost of petrol was about N1250”.

“You know the Petroleum Industry Act made the NNPC as the energy supplier of the last resort, and in fulfilling this role of guaranteeing energy security for the country they absorbed half of the cost of the petrol that you have in your tank for over one year.

“NNPC absorbed over N600 for over a year until it became a problem, and they had to cry out that look we are going down,” he said.

“If they were going to operate like a pure company, they would bring petrol at N1250 per litre and tell Nigerians they can’t sell below that.

“But because of that dint of patriotism, they said, ‘no, this is a company; we have to declare profit, but we also operate in a country, and we have to prioritize the welfare of the people over profiteering’.

Speaking on the coming of the Dangote refinery, Niboro urged billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote to emulate NNPC Ltd. by bearing part of the cost of supplying the product in the interim.

“I also urge our big brother, Dangote, that at this point, it’s a business, but let him not prioritise profit too much. Nigeria has been very kind to him,” he said.

“Let him at this time show pure kindness to Nigerians. If he loses a a couple of billions naira along the line, he would make more billions from diesel, petrochemicals, and the over 5000 other products his refinery is designed to produce and sell to Nigerians and the rest of the world.

“A little bit of sacrifice in this matter will not make him any poorer. He must not prioritise profit at this time.

“In his Bloomberg interview, he noted that petrol is cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia, which is the largest producer of crude oil in the world.

“He also said that Saudi people look at it from the perspective that this is what God blessed them with; they should at least have some benefits from it, some kind of subsidy from it. This is also the mindset of Nigerians.

“Nigerians have always felt that this is the thing that we have now. It’s like having vegetables cultivated in your backyard; you won’t pay the same amount of money for it as those that don’t have it. That is the mindset.

“But of course we know that it doesn’t work like that in modern economics. It is because of that NNPC was swallowing up more than half of the cost of a litre. Let Dangote approach this petrol issue with the same mindset.

“His name will be etched in gold, and he won’t even be the poorer for it.”