NNPC clarifies Kyari’s statement on N687trn profit

By Abubakar Yunusa, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has clarified that its 2021 profitafter-tax (PAT) was N674 billion — not N687 trillion.

Last Thursday, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC Limited, spoke on the 2021 profit margin of the national oil company on Arise TV’s The Morning Show.

“I am sure you are aware that this conpany has broken even. We have [been] doing very well,” Kyari said.

“We have a profit level of N687 trillion in fiscal 2021.”

However, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, clarified that Kyari made an error and that the accurate PAT value had been released on the company’s official Twitter page in 2022.

“Inadvertently, N687 trillion was mentioned as the company’s profit after tax figure as against N674 billion contained in the 2021 annual financial statement,” he said.

Quoting the company’s 2021 annual financial statement, he said the accurate profit-after-tax figure for 2021, “N674 billion, was communicated to the public via our official Twitter account on 05/10/2022”.

Meanwhile, the 2021 financial year made it the fourth consecutive time that the NNPC opened its book for public scrutiny.

When the NNPC first published its account statement in 2018, it reported a loss of N803.9 billion.

By Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has bemoaned the proposed demolition of 13 functional filling stations to make way for the construction of a flyover in the Ekwulobia area of Anambra state.

The marketers, in a letter signed by Chinedu Anyaso, chairman of IPMAN, Enugu community depot in charge of the south-east zone, called on Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, to resolve the issue amicably.

He said the marketers that will be impacted have expressed worries over the planned demolition of their premises “without any compensation plan by the government”.

According to Anyaso, the filing stations — Matino Oil, and Ngozi Petroleum — are on Orlu Road, Ekwulobia; while Pap Oil, Evkkins Oil, Ernmaco Petroleum, Narco Oil, and NIPCO, are all located along Awka Road, Ekwulobia.

Others are Jolet Oil, Best Abino Oil, God’s Decision Oil, and Hachele Petrogas, located along Igboukwu Road; Ekwulobia; and Narco Oil, and God’s Decision Oil, sited along Oko Road in the same area.

The IPMAN chair begged the government not to push members out of their businesses and means of livelihood, adding that the marketers were in full support of Soludo’s infrastructure transformation agenda, including the flyover project, because of its attendant benefits.

“Our members in Ekwulobia axis have made official reports to our NEC through the zonal office in respect of the proposed Ekwulobia flyover which will adversely affect their means of livelihood,” Anyaso said.

“About 13 of their operational filling stations with current documents have been marked out for demolition.

“As a body, we appreciate every move towards infrastructural development and applaud the giant strides of the governor in that respect.

“But we also want you to understand that most of our members that are affected by the proposed project rely heavily on those outlets as their means of survival and sustenance to their families and other dependents.”

Ayanso said IPMAN would like to schedule a meeting with the governor on how to resettle the displaced members.

Meanwhile, the Anambra government said the construction of the Ekwulobia flyover has been awarded and would soon commence.

In an official statement signed by Paul Nwosu, commissioner for information, the government asked business owners whose properties and shops were on the right of way of the flyover or encroached into the road corridor, to leave.

“Owners of such properties and shops are hereby advised to begin to dismantle their structures and evacuate their valuables immediately as agreed in the last stakeholders’ meeting,” the statement reads.