NNPC Worth N50trn, Can Be Listed On Stock Exchange – ECOWAS Don

The assets of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have been valued by Economic Strategist to the Economic Community of West African States, Ken Ife at N50 trillion.

According to Ife, NNPC can be listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

Ife while speaking at a Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency, GIFT, dialogue held in Abuja on Wednesday said the N50tn valuation includes the crude, gas, landed and intangible assets of NNPC Ltd.

He called for the oil company to be listed in the stock market to allow all host communities, labour unions, oil and gas marketers, citizens and corporates partook in the public quotation.

Ife noted that it is the best way to reduce oil theft and opaque petrol subsidy being paid by the government.

The ECOWAS Don said, “Let Nigerians have shares in NNPC. Let militants and oil thieves have shared when it is listed. Who will like to steal oil when he is a shareholder of the NNPC? Militants will not break pipelines when they are shareholders of the company. Militants will demand dividends, rather than break pipelines. If they break pipelines, they will not get dividends from the company with which they have shared. If Nigerians are shareholders, it then becomes their decision to maintain the subsidy or remove it.”

Ife, who is also a consultant to the Central Bank of Nigeria, said the PMS subsidy had reached a critical juncture where the government was now looking to borrow N4 trillion per year for when 50 modular refineries could be funded with just N2 trillion to refine 1 million barrels a day.

He regretted that the Petroleum Industry Act had removed the NNPC from being subject to the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act, saying that this was not healthy for transparency and accountability.