The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
has restated its commitment to the prompt payment of proceeds from its
operations to the Federation Account and steady supply of petroleum products to
Nigerians.
This was disclosed by the Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) of the Corporation, Mr. Umar Ajiya, at a strategy session with the heads
of Account Department of the corporation’s subsidiaries at the NNPC Towers,
Abuja.
NNPC has also promised to work closely with Agip to
speedily resolve all pending issues that led to the suspension of cash-call
repayment.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the corporation’s
Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in
Abuja, stated that the meeting was part of the initiatives to rally the
corporation’s business leaders in support of the new management’s agenda.
Ajiya stated that the strategic role of Account
Directorate was crucial to the realization of the new GMD’s goals and
objectives, stressing that there was need for all managers of accounts to
improve on deliverables.
"This important meeting is to ensure that the
management of Finance and Accounts Directorate corporate-wide are properly
briefed on the direction of the new NNPC management and work as a team to
deliver on the GMD’s commitments to the nation among which are: paying what is
attributable to the federation by way of FAAC remittances and meeting up with
obligations to all stakeholders as and when due," he said.
The CFO listed eight key areas where the Accounts
Directorate can help in actualizing the GMD’s agenda to include: liquidity
management; financing for growth; business process improvement, budget and
budgetary controls payment system, cost control/discipline, real-time financial
reporting, capacity building, autonomy for SBUs, and maintenance of pension
funding.
He stated that the GMD’s mandates and commitments
have financial implications and pointed out that the directorate was looking
ahead and ready to implement the Direct Debit and Cash Sweep mechanism to grow
other businesses for a more viable corporation.
He explained the Direct Debit and Cash Sweep
concept as system whereby, "the corporate has the right to debit SBUs with
excess cash flow by cash-sweeping the excess for the purpose of investing in
other SBUs by way of inter-company loan or equity contribution. This way, we
can grow the several businesses to their full potentials."
Mr. Ajiya disclosed that under his watch, SBU
autonomy would be enhanced, adding, however, that such freedom must be tied to
the responsibility of going beyond self-funding to contributing to the general
purse.
He equally charged his team to embrace process
automation for their individual Strategic Business Units (SBUs).
Meanwhile, NNPC has promised to work closely with
Agip to speedily resolve all pending issues that led to the suspension of
cash-call repayment.
The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the
corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, made the commitment on Tuesday during a
business visit by delegation from ENi/Agip led by the Executive Vice Chairman,
Sub-Saharan African Region and Chairman ENI Exploration and Production in
Nigeria, Mr. Brusco Guido.
According to a separate statement by Ughamadu, the
NNPC boss explained that the failure to pay cash call arrears in the last three
months was deliberate and meant to ensure that the issues surrounding the
agreement settled.
"The
money is there, it is ready. We will pay as soon as the issues are resolved by
the end of the week," Mele Kyari stated.
On the issue of some of the expired assets, the GMD
explained that there was no immediate plan to renew the licenses as the Federal
Government was interested in having the exploration and production arm of the
NNPC, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) operate them.
On the Okpai Independent Power Project, Mele Kyari,
explained that the issues that led to the delay in payment have been resolved,
saying payment would be effected as soon as possible.
"We will work with you. You can count on
us," he assured the Agip team, urging them to fast-track the Phase 1 of
the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery to ensure that it was
delivered before the scheduled date of October 2019.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman,
Sub-Saharan African Region and Chairman ENI Exploration and Production in
Nigeria, Mr. Brusco Guido, said the company was fully aligned with the GMD’s
three-point agenda of growing reserves, growing production, and cutting cost.
He, however, listed a number of challenges that had
hampered its operation and urged the NNPC management to help resolve them in
order to meet its target of growing production from the JV assets by 30% over
last year’s rate.
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