NNPC to sell its shares after profit declarations

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it is considering an initial public offer (IPO) of its shares after declaring profit for the first time in its 44 years of operation in the 2020 financial year.

This is also coming after President Muhammadu Buhari, earlier in August 2021, signed into law the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which enables the state-owned oil giant to offer its shares to the public.

This disclosure was made by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, during a press briefing in Abuja.

According to Bloomberg, Kyari said that the listing of NNPC’s shares will draw on the experience of the Saudi Arabian oil giant, Aramco, which listed its shares in 2019.

Kyari in his statement said, “There is no date on it, but there is a possibility of doing this. Obviously because you have made profit today doesn’t mean you are ready for IPO. It is a very, very long, tedious process.”

Nigerian NewsDirect had earlier reported NNPC’s profit declaration after tax of N287billion in 2020, an announcement in fulfilment of an earlier pledge by the Federal Government to publicly declare the financial position of the state-owned oil company.

The declaration of the result is sequel to the completion of the statutory annual audit exercise for year 2020, the first time in 2 years. The NNPC has for many years operated under a cloak of secrecy and is very often mired by several allegations of corruption and lack of accountability.

The President, in his announcement, said that the NNPC losses were reduced from N803 billion in the year 2018 to N1.7 billion in year 2019 and the eventual declaration of Net Profit in Year 2020 for the first time in its 44-year history.