OpeOluwani Akintayo
18 August 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has disclosed that the Federal Government’s divestments of shares to the private sector will gradually increase from 10-30 percent within 5 years and 40 percent in 10 years.
The Minister disclosed this at the yearly National Association of Energy Correspondents, NAEC’s conference which took place on Thursday.
According to the Minister, the move to sell the shares aligns with the stipulations contained in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PGIB.
The NAEC conference had the theme, PGIB: Prospects and Challenges for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
“In addition, the need for a national operator, which will be the NPC to be partly autonomous, cannot be watered down. The PGIB stipulates that all assets previously held by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, will be managed by the NPC and that the divestments of shares by the government to the private sector will gradually increase from 10-30% within 5 years and 40% in 10 years,” he said.
According to Kachikwu, involving the private sector will increase the level of performance of the affected entities.
“Therefore, Nigerian citizens will be able to buy shares in the NPC and become part owners of its success,” he said.
He also said that the ownership concept will be introduced in the modular refinery initiative under ‘BigWin 4’ (refineries and local production capacity) and will improve refining capacity in Nigeria and foster peace in the Niger Delta.