The authorities of the Ni
gerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have expressed worry over poor public perception of the organization.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engineer Andrew Yakubu, expressed serious concern over the public image saying it was capable of working against the company’s efforts towards attracting foreign investors into Nigeria.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Yakubu lamented that authorities of NNPC could not transact business without Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), without foreign participation as the image and credibility of the company was going down and noted that the problem had to do with poor public perception.
If we continue at this rate, I am going to tell you something that is very bad. I will ask all of you that if you continue to destroy our economy this way, then pray never to give birth to children because those children are coming to suffer the outcome of our terrible destructive attitudes,” he said.
The NNPC boss noted that it would be difficult for anybody to invest in the country if the destruction of the perception of the country continues.
The NNPC boss described corruption as endemic in Nigeria and recalled that when he decided not to influence his daughter’s employment in the corporation, his kinsmen said it was a ploy to refuse to assist them and pointed out that what was needed was a total cleansing and deliverance.
He absolved his team of sharp practices as, according to him, oil production and revenue remittance were monitored by different agencies such as Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Customs Service, Department of Petroleum Resources and Weights and Measures Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Regretting that NNPC bears the blame, Yakubu appealed that specific cases of corruption should be treated and corrected instead of reflecting the entire system as corrupt.