Peace Obi
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Budget Office of the Federation have commenced an extensive stakeholder engagement designed to seek effective coordination of the 2020-2022 medium term fiscal frameworks.
The meeting which took off at the NNPC Towers on Tuesday had in attendance the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, and his top management team in parley with the Budget Office of the Federation led by the Director-General, Mr Ben Akabueze and his team.
In his remarks, Mallam Kyari said the parley marked the beginning of extensive collaboration with the budget office to harmonize strategies geared towards ensuring optimization of resources aimed at improving the corporation’s revenue generation ability.
According to the NNPC GMD, as the main enabler of the Nigerian economy, the NNPC would work with the Budget Office to further transparency and enhance prevailing sanity in the reporting of oil and gas revenue remittances to the Federation Account.
He said that as the entity entrusted with the mandate of superintending over the nation’s vast hydrocarbon resources on behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, the NNPC must be open and accountable to all stakeholders.
Earlier in his address, Mr Akabueze said it was important to meet with the NNPC Management at the top level to drill down on all issues and possible fiscal scenarios ahead of the 2020-2023 budgetary frameworks.
He said the budget office looks up to fruitful deliberations with the NNPC strategy team in the weeks and months ahead to smoothen the process of achieving a win-win fiscal regime.
Akabueze noted that despite the push to diversify the nation’s revenue base, the oil and gas sector remain the main earner of foreign exchange in Nigeria.