By Danladi Ahmed
The Tinubu Media Volunteers has said there was nothing new in suggestion by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL to be listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange adding that he was only giving himself a repetitive and tiresome task.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Chukwudi Enekwechi and Secretary, Sunday Shedrach Gyungoun, the group described it as a belated call that is stale, monotonous, boring and overtaken by event since it has been in the works.
“The Tinubu Media Volunteers has read with total disappointment the empty call by former vice president Atiku Abubakar for the “immediate listing of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) on the stock exchange” saying that his call offers nothing new, nothing fresh and nothing novel.
“We view this intervention by the former vice president as not only belated, but stale and repetitive since 2023 when thr NNPCL has reiterated its plan to be listed on the stock exchange and therefore does not need any prodding to do the needful.
“If Atiku and his team had taken time off rabble rousing to do their home work well, they would have known that NNPCL had made a presentation at an NGX exchange Non-Deal Roadshow in London almost exactly a year ago to that effect.
“And only a few months ago, March this year to be specific, the NNPC team was in Houston, Texas for the CERAWEEK conference where it reaffirmed to global energy leaders that the planned listing on the stock market was on course.
“As a matter of fact, it is a well-known fact that 20% shareholding of the NNPCL will eventually be thrown open to the Nigerian public in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“Furthermore, since its incorporation as a limited liability company, NNPCL has been operating as a full-fledged business entity. It has been issuing yearly financial statements, and transparency has become the norm rather than the exception in its operations.
“We also want to put it on record that the law anticipates listing on the stock market to be done within three years of incorporation of the company because of the process involved so NNPCL is still within sight of what needs to be done.”
TMV also urged former Vice President Abubakar to be careful of sounding like a broken record and desist from making comments that will not enliven and enlighten the public space.
“As a former vice president, we expect him to come to the public space with better informed opinions and statements that will elevate the exalted office he once occupied in the country, even if he has to play politics.
“We see the antics as a continuation of his new found past time to be heard and his pass time to paint President Bola Tinubu black but we need to urge him to toe the path of a responsible elder statesman, now that he is moving closer to his eighties and desist from playing to the gallery.
“Perhaps we also need to remind Atiku Abubakar that the NNPCL under the leadership of Mele Kyari had three years ago formally applied to be a member of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, and it is an on-going process that will eventually come to fruition.
“We therefore consider as needless and unnecessary the call for the immediate listing of NNPCL on the stock exchange as stated in the press statement released by the former vice president,” it added.
