Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has disclosed that under the newly signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), individuals willing to but stakes in the new Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited would be able to do so.
He also explained that the allocation of three per cent oil companies operating expense to host communities could be higher than the 30 per cent profit of oil and gas for frontier exploration.
Kyari who made this known when he featured on a live television programme further noted that even though the acquisition of stakes by individuals will not happen immediately, the major shareholders of the new NNPC were allowed in the PIA to sell shares of the national oil firm to private individuals.
He said the new oil firm would have government shareholders to be represented by the ministers of finance and petroleum resources.
“So, these shareholders can decide, as the law provides that over time, they can reduce the shareholding into some private shareholding. That means it can be floated subsequently as a company that is quoted on the stock exchange.”
