Rebranding NNPC Was My Idea, Atiku Knocks APC For Stealing his Plans
- Presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has flayed the Buhari-led government over the rebranding of NNPC
- Atiku said the ideas to rebrand the company was his and that he had, during his campaigns in 2018, espoused the idea of a new NNPC
- According to Atiku, the rebranding of NNPC is the first step and said he hopes the government will go the whole hog
The presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the recent unveiling of the new Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), saying that the idea to rebrand and restructure the company was his.
In a social media post on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, Atiku said he floated the idea in 2018 during his campaign to turn the company around by rebranding it.
Source: Getty Images
Articulated plans for NNPC
According to Atiku, the APC government denigrated him for his patriotic vision and said that he is happy that the government has taken the first step along the lines of suggestions.
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Atiku said:
“I had in 2018 made public my plans to reform the NNPC to make it more profitable, transparent and efficient. The APC-led government denigrated me for my patriotic vision.
“But today, I am happy to note that the same government has taken a tentative step along the lines of the suggestions that I had made.
"It is a step in the right direction, but we are still far from what I had envisaged. I hope I'll have the opportunity to complete the process of turning the NNPC into a genuinely world-class company in the mould of NLNG, Aramco of Saudi Arabia and Petrobras of Brazil, where Nigerians and institutions will invest in.”
On Tuesday, July 19, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new NNPC at the Presidential Banquet Hall in Abuja and promised a more transparent and opaque-free company and said that the company is now a publicly-owned firm with over 200 million shares.
Analysts not too optimistic about new company
Analysts have hammered on the need to rebrand the NNPC to make it more transparent and remove the opaqueness.
Experts say that unless there is a complete purge in the company, the corruption-laden company will not do much as it is the case of new wine in old wine skin.
Speaking to Legit.ng on the launch of the new NNPC, Pius Otagbo, a social commentator stated that what the NNPC requires is a complete overhaul instead of just a new logo and share capital.
Otagbo said:
“It goes beyond share capital and new logo. If the people who have been running the company for the past 10 years are still there, there is nothing much that can be done.
“These people know their ways around and can circumvent any rules to get their ways.”
Buhari unveils ‘New NNPC’, Firm to Sell Shares to Nigerians
Legit.ng reported that Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the ‘new NNPC’ on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 in an event that officially changed the name of the oil company from state-owned and state-operated to a commercial oil company which is limited by shares.
The new NNPC limited will be handled by a private energy company, a departure from the corrupt government agency.
The unveiling took place at the presidential banquet hall in Abuja.
Source: Legit.ng
