Amidst the ongoing petrol crisis across the country, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has declared an eye-watering profit of about N3,3 trillion.
Olufemi Soneye the national oil company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, said the profit is the highest in the 46-year history.
He said, “The NNPC Limited has released its 2023 Audited Financial Statement (AFS), declaring a net profit of N3.297 trillion at the close of the financial year which ended in December 2023, an increase of over N700billion (28%) when compared to the 2022 profit of N2.548trillion.”
NNPC’s Chief Financial Officer of the Company, Mr. Umar Ajiya told a world press conference that “the release of the AFS is a testament to the Company’s commitment to transparency and accountability. “
The report is scant consolation for Nigerians currently queue for days just to get petroleum products.
Despite the purported suspension of subsidy payment, President Tinubu’s government is reported to be neck-deep in subsidy due to the crashing naira and comatose Nigerian refineries.
The much-touted Dangote Refinery is expected to start local supply in the next months, but how much that can alleviate the supply crisis or ease skyrocketing prices is yet to be seen.
Meanwhile, the NNPC’s CFO declared on Monday, “Our fiscal performance reflects both strategic foresight and operational resilience. Despite inherent challenges of our operational and economic environment, we have improved the productivity and the financial performance of this great company.”
Ajiya added that posting such impressive returns demonstrates NNPC Ltd’s commitment to sustaining profitability and supporting the attainment of national energy security as stipulated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, and by extension, as expected by the Company’s shareholders.
Explaining that NNPC Ltd will announce an Initial Public offer (IPO) once the shareholders and Board make a decision, Ajiya also debunked claims on subsidy payment, saying the Company was only taking care of PMS importation shortfall between it and the Federation.
Speaking earlier at the press conference, the Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board, Chief Pius Akinyelure said that the excellent performance came as the fruit of the PIA 2021, the commitment of the Board, Management and staff of the company.
Akinyelure added that the shareholders of the company have since approved a final dividend of N2.1trn in line with PIA 2021 provisions.
In her remarks at the briefing, the Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said with improvements witnessed as a result of the renewed vigour in the war against crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, NNPC Ltd is targeting 2 million barrels per day crude oil production by the end of the year.
On the current fuel queues in parts of Lagos and the FCT, the Executive Vice President, of Downstream, Mr. Dapo Segun appealed for understanding from Nigerians, saying that the Company is working with relevant stakeholders to address the distribution, evacuation and logistics challenges.
It would be recalled that in 2021, NNPC declared profit in its operations for the first time. From a loss position of N803 billion in 2018, it reduced the loss further down to N1.7 billion in 2019.
