A United Kingdom-based public policy assessment organisation, the Oxford Policy Management (OPM), has interrogated the increase in the number of firms engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to participate in its crude oil lifting contracts and the two-year duration of the contracts from 2018 and 2020, despite the country’s unchanged levels of crude oil production.
The OPM in a report queried NNPC’s decision to extend the term contract to two years as against the traditional one year, alleging that the process may have been largely influenced by the political undertones of the 2019 general elections with less consideration of the economic benefits.
But the NNPC in a swift response to the report stated that the increase in the number of beneficiaries was in line with the federal government’s desire to have more Nigerian firms participate in the lifting and sale of the country’s crude oil. The NNPC added that its 2018/ 2020 oil lifting terms has nothing to do with the upcoming 2019 general elections. OPM helps low and middle-income countries achieve growth and reduce poverty and disadvantage through public policy reform.
Source: THIS DAY