There have been media reports about the scraping of NNPC. However, Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has dismissed the reports.
While fielding questions from journalists at the National Assembly on Monday, Sylva put the fears of many to rest.
The Minister clarified that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) sent to the National Assembly sought to commercialise and not to scrap the NNPC.
Sylva said that the host communities would benefit most from the bill and that the industry will be transformed. Also, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF)and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will not exist in the same form that they exist currently.
“We’ve heard so much noise about NNPC being scrapped, but that is not being envisaged by the bill at all.
“NNPC will not be scrapped but commercialised in line with deregulation moves being made across all the streams in the sector comprising upstream, downstream and midstream.
“We have said that NNPC will be commercialised. But if you are talking about transforming the industry, the only new thing that we are introducing is the development of the midstream, which is the pipeline sector.
“So we have provided robustly for the growth of the midstream sector. Through commercialisation, the required competitiveness in the sector will be achieved. But I do not want to go into the details of the bill until it is read on the floor of the Senate,” he said
