Nigerians have commended the dissolution of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), describing the action as a good riddance to bad rubbish.
The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PCN) Olumide Akintayo, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s action was expected and therefore a step in the right direction.
According to him, if the government is going to restructure the economy, it has to start from source, a parastatal like the NNPC where significant percentage of the revenue is not properly accounted for.
He argued that petroleum and gas being the country’s honey pie which accounts for about 80 percent of government’s revenue, must be properly restructured if government must derive adequate revenue from the corporation.
He added that it also should be expected that a major expenditure arm which is the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) should follow suit so that in terms of organising priority with regards to fiscal policy, government will begin to see improvement.
He stressed that government business won’t be regarded as having started until the presidential begins to take decisive action in that direction.
“So, for me it is a step in the right direction,” Akintayo concluded.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to Media and Publicity to President Buhari, said that “you can’t make changes without having new leadership” and that the President remains “committed to cleaning up the system, and wants accountability and transparency in the oil industry.”
Adesina added that “people must be patient for the President’s next move,” stressing that the President the principles of democratic process.
News of Buhari’s action to dissolve the governing board came at a time when the NNPC has been at the center of the controversial “Missing $20 billion” scandal, which involves the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The President is expected to reconstitute the board with one of the ‘cleaner’ Deputy Managing Directors of the NNPC in a few weeks.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced dissolution of the NNPC board at the weekend through a memo issued by Danladi Kifasi of the Head of the Nigerian Civil Service.
The announcement to that effect was conveyed in a letter dated Friday, June 26, 2015 and signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi.
In a statement issued by the Director Communications, Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Haruna Imrana, on behalf of the HoS, Danladi Kifasi, the President thanked members of the dissolved board for their services to the nation.
