NNPC Kyari sees boost to economy on revival of textile corridor through AKK project

• Offers robust defence on insurance contract, forgotten China crude oil, sack of refinery staff

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now more open and transparent than it has ever been, says Mele Kyari, group managing director, in robust defence of the corporation against different allegations that have been thrown the way of the state-owned oil company in the last few months.

Kyari said any information that anyone wanted about the oil giant has been made available on its website and that he had made this possible as his leadership moved to open up the corporation to the public.

In an interview with an online magazine, Realnews, and made available to Business A.M., Kyari admonished people to look at the corporation different from how they saw it in the past as the corporation has changed from the way people saw it in the past.

“There is virtually no information you need about NNPC today that you cannot get from our website or that is not already in the public space,” Kyari stressed. He said allegations often made against the corporation were false, citing two involving inflation of insurance contract and the one about some forgotten crude in China that were sold. “You mentioned inflation of insurance contract and sale of forgotten crude oil in China.

If you have been following the reports on these issues, you will know that they are not factual. “Investigations into the allegation of inflated insurance contract have shown that there was nothing like that and that the corporation’s insurance policy has been doing very well.

On the alleged forgotten crude oil in China, we have explained now and again that it was a plot to defraud the country and that there was nothing like that. Since we exposed the fraudsters, have you heard them come out again with counter explanation? In any case, we are seeking legal redress on the matter,” Kyari said as he dismissed the allegations.

He also fielded questions on the Ajaokuta – Kaduna – Kano, AKK, gas pipeline project, which he said will boost Nigeria’s economy upon completion. “The AKK is designed to take gas to the northern corridor of the country. Kaduna and Kano used to be the hub of the textile industry in Nigeria.

There are over 40 textile companies in Kano and Kaduna that are in coma due to power issues essentially. “What the AKK pipeline will do is to supply them gas as fuel in place of electricity. With the availability of gas, these factories and even new ones will spring back to life.

You can imagine the multiplier effect of that in terms of employment generation and impact on the national economy,” Kyari explained. Kyari also spoke about reports going round about the sack of workers in refineries. “We have not sacked any staff in the refineries,” he said to dismiss the allegation and then, he explained.

“The true position is that when the refineries were in full operation, we got some companies to supply us labour to support our staff. These people were essentially staff of those companies we engaged, they were paid by those companies. Now that the refineries have been shut down for rehabilitation, it does not make any economic sense to keep them since there is virtually no work going on there. That is the true situation,” the NNPC chief clarified.