Audited reports: NNPC still performing below global benchmarks — NNRC

The Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), Monday, disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has consistently and was still under-performing against established global benchmark and also lacking in transparency and good corporate governance.

The Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC),is  a non-profit policy institute, committed to effective natural resource governance in Nigeria.

In a statement in Abuja, Program Coordinator of the NNRC, Ms. Tengi George-Ikoli, commended the NNPC for its commitment to its Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, and its recent efforts to it by publishing the 2018 audited reports of its subsidiaries, noting, however, that there remains a need for greater transparency and accountability by the NNPC.

She noted that over the years, the NNPC had consistently under-performed against the NNRC’s global best practice benchmark for optimal national oil company performance which prescribes that national oil companies be accountable to their citizens and government, with well-defined mandates and an objective of commercial efficiency.

She said, “Holistic improvements across the National Oil Company (NOC) will ‘require clear and appropriate decisions and role of the NOC and how it is financed, corporate governance systems that limit political interference and allow for efficient oversight, and a commitment to transparency and accountability’.

“It is expected that the NOCs that will succeed in maximizing their potential enterprise value, and thus maximize their revenue contribution to the nation, will be those who succeed at building strong governance along with capital and operational excellence into their culture.”

She bemoaned the huge losses incurred by the country’s refineries, stating that unless NNPC’s refineries operate at a minimum of 90% capacity, they would continue to lose money.

“Comparing Norway’s Equinor and NNPC, performance records show that Equinor’s three refineries averaged 92.8 per cent capacity utilisation in 2018 while NNPC’s three refineries recorded 11.21 per cent. A 2015 comparison of average refinery capacity utilisation in the USA of 90.98 per cent and Nigeria of 4.88 per cent is even worse.