“We are very transparent and we do our work in the best way with accountability. We are a fact-based company and we do it also competitively.”

Uche Usim, Abuja

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Maikanti Baru, on Thursday said the management’s adoption of a transparent insurance procurement process saves the corporation a whopping $30 million in premium annually.

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This was coming on the heels of the 600 firms that submitted bids to secure the corporation’s oil and non-oil assets for the year 2018/2019 as a fresh bidding round opened on Thursday.

Speaking at the event organised for NNPC insurance contractors, Baru said: “Last year, we had over 500 and this year, we have received over 600 bids. This multiplicity of bidders has helped us year-in-year over the past three years to save premiums of over $30 million to the corporation.”

He added: “When this administration came on board, the premiums being charged were over $60 million but we have succeeded in bringing it down to a little over $40 million.

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The NNPC boss, however, lamented that despite concerted efforts to make NNPC as transparent as it can possibly be, the public perception of the corporation has remained horrible.

He frowned at the National Assembly’s probe and the seeming general distrust of the corporation, describing it as the most misunderstood public organisation in Nigeria.

He said, “being the Chief Executive of NNPC, I have learnt that a lot of people do not know what NNPC is, so I give them the benefit of the doubt and I am very patient to explain to people what NNPC is and how it is working.

“In terms of misunderstood organisation, I think NNPC is the most misunderstood. We are patient, we will explain. We will do that not only to the general public, but also to the National Assembly. You know what is happening now; if at the time we had no fuel, the National Assembly was on our neck and they said they gave us two weeks to clear fuel queues; we did what was right, we cleared fuel queues. Now that they are in the comfort of driving and feeling comfortable, then they said that you violated processes in the course of removing these queues.

“I think it is unfair because the way people perceive NNPC requires that they can give us the benefit of the doubt and ask us what the issue is and we are always ready to explain. We are very transparent and we do our work in the best way with accountability. We are a fact-based company and we do it also competitively. Despite the fact that we are a government organisation, we are also very commercially focused.”

Baru noted that the NNPC was the first government agency, and maybe the only one, that is still publishing its accounts on a monthly basis and unfailingly, so that everyone can look at it.

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