Demands law to make NNPC plc
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should be made a public liability company where every Nigerian can own shares.
NLC said the House of Representatives does not seem to sufficiently capture this desire of the Nigerian people, describing it as the major blight in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba who made the observation during an interview with The Nation said NLC, as part of its input to the PlB during its appearance at the public hearing, canvassed that the NNPC should be transformed into a public liability company where every Nigerian can own shares
He said this desire to make the Nigerian people stakeholders in the commonwealth of the country appears to have fared quite well in the Senate’s consideration.
He said: ” We will like to draw the attention of the National Assembly of the need to handle with utmost care the very sensitive issue of the unbundling of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“The bill as passed by the upper chamber of the National Assembly retained the recommendation of the Joint Committee in Clause 53 which empowers the Minister of Petroleum Resources to incorporate the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as a limited liability company to be known as NNPC Limited.
“We are concerned that unlike the Senate representation of Clause 53, Clause 53 of the PIB as passed by the House of Representatives does not seem to sufficiently capture this desire of the Nigerian people. This is a major blight in the PIB. It is not good enough.
“We urge the National Assembly during its Conference to harmonize the two versions of the passed bill pursuant to the Senate’s representation of Clause 53 by effectively sanctioning the transformation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation into a Public Liability Company.”
