The Nigerian Governors Forum have faulted the ownership structure of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation proposed in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
They made their position known in a communique issued at the end of the 32nd Teleconference meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which was held on Wednesday.
“The Forum is in full support of the unbundling and commercialisation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) but concerned with the proposed ownership structure of the NNPC which places ownership on the Federal Government,” the communique read in part.
This proposal, the governors argued ignores the fact that the NNPC is owned by the three tiers of government.
Rather than place the ownership of the NNPC on the Federal Government, the Governors’ forum recommended that the new entity (NNPC Limited) proposed in the PIB should be owned by a vehicle that holds the interest of the three tiers of government.
“For now, the institution that is positioned to carry out this mandate is the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA),” the NGF said.
They plan to take up the requested amendment to the PIB as well as the proposed three percent share of oil revenue to host communities and 30 percent share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins with the relevant channels including the National Assembly and the National Economic Council (NEC) subsequently.