Peace Obi
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has declared its commitment for prompt remittance of proceeds from its operations to the Federation Account as well as a steady supply of petroleum products to Nigerians.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Corporation, Mr. Umar Ajiya, disclosed this at a strategy session with the heads of account departments of the corporation’s subsidiaries at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement said that the meeting was part of the initiatives to rally the corporation’s business leaders in support of the new management’s agenda.
Stating that the role of Account Directorate was crucial to the realization of the new GMD’s goals and objectives, Ajiya said that there was a need for all managers of accounts to improve on deliverables.
“This important meeting is to ensure that the management of Finance and Accounts Directorate corporate-wide are properly briefed on the direction of the new NNPC management and work as a team to deliver on the GMD’s commitments to the nation among which are: paying what is attributable to the Federation by way of FAAC remittances and meeting up with obligations to all stakeholders as and when due”, he said.
As part of the strategies, the CFO listed eight key areas where the Accounts Directorate can help in actualizing the GMD’s agenda to include: liquidity management; financing for growth; business process improvement, budget and budgetary controls payment system, cost control/discipline, real-time financial reporting, capacity building, autonomy for SBUs, and maintenance of pension funding.
He noted that the GMD’s mandates and commitments have financial implications and pointed out that the Directorate was looking ahead and ready to implement the Direct Debit and Cash Sweep mechanism to grow other businesses for a more viable corporation.
He explained the Direct Debit and Cash Sweep concept as a system whereby “the corporate has the right to debit SBUs with excess cash flow by cash-sweeping the excess for the purpose of investing in other SBUs by way of inter-company loan or equity contribution. This way, we can grow several businesses to their full potentials”.
Ajiya said that under his watch, SBU autonomy would be enhanced, adding, however, that such freedom must be tied to the responsibility of going beyond self-funding to contributing to the general purse.
He equally charged his team to embrace process automation for their individual Strategic Business Units (SBUs).
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