The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has on Thursday, declared that the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government, as well as other previous Federal Governments, have failed woefully in managing the very important Oil and Gas and Power sectors, adding that, the government must as a matter of urgency, step aside from running both sectors, if progress is expected, .
The Governor spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’, on the occasion of the 7th edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency.
Speaking on the theme of this year’s KadInvest: ‘Building a Resilient Economy’, Governor El-Rufai said that whatever the Federal Government manages turns out bad, noting that the sectors doing well in the country like entertainment, telecoms, fintech, and others, have no government involvement.
He stated further that nothing has changed with the commercialisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited, in July 2022, adding that, the NNPC is Nigeria’s biggest problem, and therefore, it should be privatised.
Governor El-Rufai said that although the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, is trying his best, the company has failed and has no business being in the Oil and Gas sector.
He cited an example of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, which achieved nothing until the private sector came in and revolutionalised the telecoms business in the country, some years ago.
His words: “I am giving this example, so that when I say government should get out of Oil and Gas, people should not think it is crazy; it is not. 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.
“This year, NNPC has not brought N20,000 to the Federation account. We are living on taxes. It is PPTs, royalties, income tax and VAT that is keeping this country going, because NNPC claims that subsidy has taken all the Oil revenues. I do not believe it.”
Governor El-Rufai further argued that the Federal Government should get out of the Power sector and privatise it, for the country to overcome the hydra-headed and decades-long challenges of the sector.
He said exactly: “So, the government should sell everything in Oil and Gas sector…The government should get out of everything that is left of electricity, leave it to the private sector, create the environment, the money will come. We did it in the telecoms sector.”
Asked about the commercialisation of the NNPC, he said: “Nothing has changed, it is just a change in name with Limited at the end.
“Nothing has changed, they are still taking our money, declaring profit that we do not see the dividends.”
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