The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration failed and should get out of the oil and gas business.
El-Rufai who asserted that the government fumbled in the sector, said Nigeria was living on taxes, royalties and income taxes.
He ascertained that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was a big problem to Nigeria, noting that it would bring Nigeria to its knees unless it was resolved.
The governor made this disclosure while speaking at KADINVEST, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency, on Thursday.
He noted that the sectors doing well in the country were entertainment, telecoms, fintech and others that had no government’s involvement.
He affirmed that nothing had changed with the commercialisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company in July 2022, noting that though the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, was trying his best; the company had failed and had no business being in the sector.
He said, “There is no reason why the Nigerian government should still be in the oil and gas sector. It should just get out, it has failed. By every measure it has failed.
“We are living on taxes. It is PPT, royalties and income tax that are keeping this country going because NNPC claims that subsidy has taken all the oil revenues, I don’t believe that. So, the government should sell everything —the oil and gas sector. I have been making this point since 1999 when I was head of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). I have not changed my mind.
“The government should get out of whatever is left of electricity. Leave it to the private sector. Maintain the environment. The money will come. Nothing has changed for NNPC other than adding L to it for the limited. They are still taking our money. They are still declaring profits that we don’t see the dividends.
“NNPC is a big problem to Nigeria and unless we resolve it, it will bring Nigeria to its knees. It’s a systemic and institutional problem, it’s beyond one person.”
