Only an angel can run NNPC honestly, says Sanusi

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi (II), says the subsidy regime in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has compromised the corporation to the extent that only an angel may be able to run the corporation honestly. Sanusi said this during an interview with our correspondent in commemoration of his 4th year on the throne.

Sanusi was suspended as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 after accusing the NNPC of failing to remit $20bn into the government’s coffers despite high oil prices. He had also complained about the lack of transparency at the nation’s top oil firm occasioned by the dubious payment of petroleum subsidy.

When asked if he was satisfied with how the NNPC was being run under the current administration, the emir said no law or regulation had been put in place to change how things were being done in the corporation. While insisting that the payment of subsidy on petroleum products must be scrapped immediately, Sanusi said the problem of NNPC was beyond the change of its leadership.

He added, “It is not about the persons in the NNPC but about whether anyone can make a system operate honestly when there are such huge arbitrage opportunities.

We need to import angels for that to happen. So, for me these are the issues. It is an economist’s nightmare. Sadly the very reason this subsidy should be scrapped is probably the reason it never will be. For those who profiteer from it, it is just too good to be true.”