There cannot be a better time than this to convert the NNPC into an industrial conglomerate

Ayo Akinfe

(1) With oil prices in the doldrums and the Dangote refinery poised to take over as Nigeria’s main source of petrol products, this is the time to cannibalise the NNPC and convert it into an industrial concern

(2) Dangote’s Lekki refinery has effectively made the three dormant NNPC refineries needless. We have to now convert the Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries into manufacturing plants churning out finished goods

(3) I would personally privatise the NNPC, allowing the government to retain a stake of no more than 25% in the venture. I would sell stakes to manufacturing giants like Siemens, Phillips, Ford, Peugeot, etc and then sell about 20% of the company to the public

(4) I would then seek float the NNPC Plc on the Lagos, London, New York and Frankfurt stock exchanges, hoping to give it a market capitalisation of around $500bn

(5) I would make the NNPC a highly diversified industrial manufacturer with 10 divisions - steel production, automobile manufacturing, food processing, agricultural equipment manufacturing, petroleum product refining, armament production, power generation, a shipyard, medical equipment manufacturing and general industrial goods manufacturing

(6) Across the world, numerous countries have had their economies dominated by one such big industrial concern that accounts for the bulk of manufactured goods. We had Mitsubishi in Japan, Krupp in Germany, General Motors in the US, Vauxhall in the UK, Daewoo in South Korea, Citroen in France, Tata Industries in India, Fiat in Italy, etc

(7) During World War Two, most of these companies were responsible for producing the bulk of their armaments. They were able to switch to new products because they had the assembly lines for mass production. My aim would be to make the NNPC that modular too

(8) As petroleum is going to play a much lesser role in Nigeria’s future, crude oil products would not account for more than 10% of the new NNPC’s turnover. It’s main emphasis will be on manufacturing

(9) In the Philippines, the conglomerate San Miguel is considered the bellwether of the national economy. My aim would be to make the NNPC a similar company

(10) Let the NNPC take over from Amcon as the company that buys up non-performing plants in Nigeria. With its economies of scale, the NNPC will be able to integrate them into its operations and make them productive and profitable