The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, on Thursday said the publication of the audited financial statements of NNPC facilitated the recent financing for the revamp of the Port Harcourt refinery.
The sum of $1.5bn would be expended on the revamp of the Port Harcourt refinery, although there had been concerns as to why the government would spend such funds on a refinery that had been dormant for several years.
But in a statement issued in Abuja by NNPC spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, the oil firm’s boss said the corporation was able to get speedy funding for the refinery as a result of the publication of its financial statements.
The statement read in part, “Kyari stated that the publication of the corporation’s audited financial statements has significantly improved investors’ confidence in the corporation.
“And it was instrumental to the speedy facilitation of the financing agreement for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery by the African Export Import Bank.”
Kyari spoke at NNPC’s Abuja headquarters while playing host to the management team of the Nigeria Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative led by its Executive Secretary, Ogbonaya Orji.
He was quoted as saying, “Since we opted to disclose our financial statements, the speed with which we close financial transactions has been monumental.
“We now close deals at a quarter of the time that we used to do them and that is very critical.”
He said the NNPC would work with NEITI and urged the executive secretary and members of his management team to avail themselves of details of the corporation’s operations, especially the monthly engagement with the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.
On his part, Orji described NNPC as a key partner of the agency whose role in the industry was clearly on the orbit.
The NEITI boss said there was need to build on the existing relationship with a view to deepening the culture of transparency in the oil and gas industry.
The Punch
