Atiku vows to privatise NNPC

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has vowed to privatise the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

According to Daily Post, Atiku also described NNPC as a mafia organisation.

The PDP presidential candidate made this known on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, while speaking with members of the business community in Lagos state.

“Let me go back to my experience. When we got into office, I walked up to my boss and said “Sir, there are two mafia organisations in government: one is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the other one is the National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA).

“I said unless we dismantle these mafia organisations, we cannot make progress. Let’s privatize them… the long and short of this is that I am committed to privatisation as I have said. I swear even if they are going to kill me, I will do it (privatise NNPC).

“I asked a Nigerian professor based in America; I said ‘Prof, do you have ministry of petroleum in America?’ He said no.

“I said, ‘Do you have an organisation like NNPC over there?’ He said no. And America produces oil more than any country? He said yes.

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“So I asked him, ‘How do they do it in America?’ and he said taxation and I decided that I will go by taxation too,” he added.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was established on April 1, 1977 and is owned by the Nigerian government.