*NNPC-Towers, Central Business District, Garki, Abuja.
Ike Amos
Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Wednesday, restated its commitment to the prompt payment of proceeds from its operations to the Federation Account.
In a statement in Abuja, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the NNPC, Mr. Umar Ajiya, also assured of a steady supply of petroleum products to Nigerians.
Ajiya, who was speaking at a strategy session with the heads of account departments of the corporation’s subsidiaries in Abuja, stated that the strategic role of the Account Directorate was crucial to the realization of the new Group Managing Director’s, GMD, goals, and objectives, stressing that there was need for all managers of accounts to improve on deliverables.
He said, “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 a 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 several businesses to their full potentials”.
