Recently, the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 Presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar flagging off his electioneering campaign said, if elected, he would sell off the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), retaining only 10% for the Federal Government. The statement has since been generating responses from Nigerians home and abroad. While some asked why national assets should be sold off, others said the NNPC facilities have not been beneficial to the country under the Federal Government’s watch and should better be sold for efficiency. New Dawn’s ADEDAYO EMMANUEL took responses from Nigerians who usually bear the brunt of government policies. Excerpts:
A bad signal
It is a busy signal of bad weather.
Okoko Nnamdi Ngozi
Sale will increase corruption
He will sell it to his rich crimes and lootocracy continues unabated. I bet, corruption will increase and make life miserable. All Nigeria’s assets they had sold in the past, how many poor citizens are among the buyers?
Adewale Adeyanju
He supervised previous sales and became a billionaire
What do you expect from a man under whose leadership many national monuments were sold which made him a multi-billionaire that he is today? His wish will never come to pass by the grace of God.
Olugbenga Opebi
A bad omen
Bad omen to sell Nigeria asset to who definitely to himself at a cheaper rate. A ti ku se to ba fi wole
Omotoso Abiodun
What happened to the sales of previous ones?
All the previous sales what happened to the proceed?
God has exposed the looters these people have nothing to offer but to loot and loot
Aluko S. Adebowale
Same of same
In a country where APC already wants to sell off national assets to fund 2028 budget, same same
Ademuyiwa Oremosu
Selling NNPC will stop corruption in the agency
Privatization of NNPC will stop corruption in that agency. This is what experts had said long ago…
Sonysurf Okobi
Previously sold assets like NITEL still moribund
Like NITEL etc were sold under his watch as VP through BPE and such organizations are still moribund till date, abi.
Ọmọ to sọ wipe tí oun ba dagba ori ẹyẹlé ni oun ma a jẹ. Ori ẹyẹlé naa o ni jẹ ki o dagba.
There is an iota of sense in proposed sale
There is an iota of sense in it. NNPC needs to be unbundled. It should should not be a regulator and competitor at the same time. That will take us to the era of Gowon oil boom, when he said Nigeria had money, so much that it is having challenge spending it. What were we getting from NITEL at the point of its sale?
My take is this: if the elite would sell it to themselves then what’s the benefit? Let 40% be sold to the youths 40% to the rest and 20% retained for FG. If the youths have the money and capacity, they should buy it
There is nothing wrong in selling an asset that is not performing to people that can make bring better ROI.
If Yar’adua didn’t reverse the sale of the refineries, we won’t be having this discussion.
Felix Oloyede
Our refineries not operating maximally
In August, only Warri refinery worked at 10%, Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries worked at 0.00% , this might not be the best example but NNPC has been quite inefficient and opaque. No private investor will set up such complex facilities and watch them idle away. Again, the sale and buy process should be transparent. In addition, it’ll help liberalise the downstream oil and gas sector coupled with the unbundling effect.
Anonymous
We should be concerned with service delivery
If NNPC is unbundled and privatized which is a good thing, but the sheer amount of money it would need to operate mining and prospecting licenses is immense so that selling shares to the youth is a non-starter.
What we should be concerned about is quality service delivery and a strong regulator to ensure they do so. After all, how many youths or Nigerians have a stake in the telecom companies. Do these local contractors have capacity to deliver world class infrastructure? Most don’t have the capacity to even lease equipment for major projects.
Osaze
Politicians are eyeing national assets
What I’m driving at is that these guys are eyeing the national assets and Nigerians should be sensitised to ask questions.
Adesanya A.
There won’t be fuel shortage again
If sold, you will get quality of course. There won’t be fuel shortage and a litre will sell for N400 and prices of goods and services would go up and salaries would remain where it used to be. Who loses ?
Adekunle Femi
Proceeds from NNPC should boost infrastructural development
My take is rather pedestrian. You don’t sell “asset” unless you are desperately in need of revenue. Unless we are agreeing the NNPC is not an asset. If the problem with NNPC is management, fire the manager and put in new ones. Even if you privatise, it would go to new managers. If those managers don’t do well, we’re back to square one. I like the idea of using proceed from NNPC to boost infrastructure development; but isn’t that in line with the Excess Crude Account? But not all privatised assets had done well.
Emmanuel Amolo
Think MTN, GLO and Airtel. They have not been mismanaged as NITEL because they have a board and they are driven by profit. NNPC is not an asset. It is a liability. Even private entities from time to time sell under-performing units.
Osaze
Nitel was no longer an asset…it was like a funnel only taking in but not giving out. It shouldn’t be called an asset then when all it brings you is losses. E don become liability.
Emmanuel Amolo
NNPC is a cash cow and it would never perform well no matter how you restructure it. The state should hands off totally. That is the only way it will be beneficial for all. It should be auctioned through a transparent and competitive bidding process.
Osaze A.
Do we ever get those world class infrastructures? At the prices other people get them? I see a different kind of problem, standards mismatch. We generally lack the capacity to define what we need, and what we offer. They do anyways. Misuse of resources is one type of problem but I think we are plagued more by poor situational analysis.
Anonymous
We are a peculiar country. You have to deflate the contract cost with the going corruption rate. More so there is a high political risk.
Apparently the one example we have for many good things in Nigeria (obj cleaning his eyes) anyway, you make a good point.
To my point, telecos deployed here by adapting to the market needs. No one took models from away to force them to work here. I don’t think our govt services work that way. Right… but Nigerians cried foul. Elite suspicion played a part in this as well as shoddy nature of the disposal of the refineries. Nigerians are sensitive to national assets and government could have handled it better.
