Akpabio tells Niger Deltans to vote against PDP over its plans to privatise the NNPC

FORMER Akwa Ibom State governor Senator Godswill Akpabio has cautioned people of the south-south geo-political zone against voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its plans to sell the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

On Saturday, Nigeria goes to the polls with the presidential election looking like a two-horse race between incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All progressives Congress (APC) and former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who is standing as the PDP candidate. During his campaign, Alhaji Abubakar has promised to privatise the NNPC, which is currently riddled with corruption and is operating way below capacity.

In 2017, the NNPC only had a turnover of about $41bn, of which just $6.7bn was net profit after taxation and the honouring of joint venture arrangements. In contrast, Brazil's state-owned petroleum company Petrobas, had a turnover of $89bn in 2017 and is more involved in value addition.

There are fears about Alhaji Abubakar's privatisation plans, however, as he has refused to provide any details and past experience has shown that the process seldom works in Nigeria. Past programmes to privatise Nigeria's telecommunications corporation, the power generators and the Ajaokuta steel plants has left the government picking up the tabs because ministers sold them to cronies who lacked the financial clout to operate these parastatals.

Wading into the debate, Senator Akpabio  said it will not be in the interest of the Niger Delta people if NNPC was sold. Senator Akpabio, who is the national coordinator of the Presidential Support Committee, also stated that considering the achievements of the Buhari administration, Nigeria has no other alternative than to give him another term.

“Yes I believe Nigerians can compare the difference between apples and oranges. The reality is that this president has done very well considering the fact that he was able to take Nigeria out of recession.

“He met ongoing projects on ground, such as the airports and the railways and he completed and put them to use. Nigerians are clamouring for change, better health care and better educational facilities but all those things cannot happen when you spend almost 80% of resources on recurring expenses like pensions and salary arrears," Senator Akpabio added.

He pointed out that generated power has increased to 7,000MW from 2,500MW and so many things are visible, coupled with the fact that there is an enabling environment in terms of law and order. According to Senator Akpabio, the fight against corruption has really been intensified and the good thing is that it has now become a deterrent to any public official.

Senator Akpabio added: “We in the Niger Delta are very apprehensive and I don’t think that there is any person in the south-south who will go and vote for PDP. Even some of them are trying to purchase votes because when you look at the major policy document of the PDP today, they are talking about selling the NNPC.

“What does the NNPC have? Is it the building? What NNPC controls is the oil of the Niger Delta, oil wells, oil fields and all those things come together with the land. I don’t see anybody from the south-south or any Niger Deltan, who will agree that the same way we sold our Nigeria Airways and we became a laughing stock in the comity of states in Africa is the same way NNPC should be sold.

“Look at Kenya Airways, Ethiopia Airlines, Ghana Airways, South African Airways but Nigeria has no single plane now called its own. We sold out our Aluminium Smelter Company in Ikot Abasi, that provided thousands of jobs and today that place is totally bare with over 690MW of electricity.

“We sold out Oku Iboku Paper Mill in Akwa Ibom and our people are there jobless. That massive structure is a waste."