By Bisola Adeyemo
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has once more expressed its commitment to moving the national oil company from its hidden past to a more transparent global organization.
Speaking while receiving award in Abuja as “Government Agency of the Year 2020 (Transparency)” from the New Telegraph Newspaper, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari said the company has come to realize that it is good and pays to be transparent and accountable at all times.
Mallam Kyari emphasized that the management’s resolve to drive the corporation along the line of Transparency, Accountability & Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, noting that the media interest and involvement in the activities of the corporation, together with the oil and gas sectors was a pleasant development.
A statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, quoted Kyari as assuring that given the value of the award, “he would do more to justify the trust.”
“This award would be a major impetus towards our unflinching efforts to change the narrative around the NNPC brand, and will surely imbue us to take the transparency drive to new and enviable heights,” Kyari said.
He, therefore, expressed delights in the efforts of the management to entrench the culture of transparency in the system have started to receive recognition in the corporation, both within and outside.
Presenting the award in Abuja, the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the New Telegraph, Mr. Ayodele Aminu, revealed that the emergence of NNPC as the most transparent government agency in 2020 was based on the corporation’s recent openness and accountability to the public.
Aminu noted that apparently, the efforts to recommits transparency in NNPC as evidenced by the publication of its 2018 and 2019 audited financial statements were a major factor in considering the corporation for the award by the management and board of the New Telegraph.
“Before now, the accounts of the NNPC had been shrouded in secrecy. But Mele Kyari was brave enough to say this is the way we are and let the public see that there is nothing hidden,” the newspaper boss stated.
Those who present at the award ceremony were: the Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation, Mr. Umar Ajiya, Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and Business Development, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, and the Group General Manager, Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), Mr. Chris Akamiro.
