Stakeholders, NNPCL Synergise On Investigative Journalism, Advocacy In Bayelsa

Media stakeholders in Bayelsa State have indicated willingness to partner the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for effective and balanced reportage.
The Tide gathered this in Yenagoa, the state capital, during a recent media parley with a group, “Media friends of the NNPCL”.
Stating the rationale behind the parley, one of the conveners, Mr. Solomon Oseagah, a media practitioner and player in the oil and gas industry, called on Journalists to fact-check information as it relates to NNPCL before reportage, noting that media ethics were against unverified and misinforming publications.
According to him, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Engr. Mele Kolo Kyari, has shown cause that the company is no longer an opaque one, as it has opened its financial records to the public.
“Since the formation of the NNPC, this is first of its kind the GCEO has opened the firm’s financial records”, he said.
Oseagah noted that the company has arrested over 1800 suspected vandals of its assets, and others who committed economic sabotage on its facilities.
He, however, expressed regret that the firm has not been successful in its quest to prosecute these suspects despite all evidences presented before the courts.
Also speaking, the Akwa Ibom Sate Public Relations Officer of the National Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC), Ekerete Friday, revealed that in his Command, the NNPCL has reduced oil bunkering across the waters by 90 percent and same has also been achieved in Bayelsa State.
The conveners outlined the many achievements of the GCEO of NNPCL, which include a command room where all operations and assets of the company is viewed real time.
They promised to have journalists visit the NNPCL towers to have a first-hand experience of it and take the message back to the people through their reportage.
Speaking against the backdrop of the delay in the repairs and commencement of production by the Port Harcourt refinery, Oseagah stated that the refinery is already producing a product, while PMS will be rolled out before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Journalists at the parley called on the NNPCL to maintain the partnership with the media through continuous provision of first-hand information instead of keeping mum while things go wrong in areas concerning them in the worsening energy crisis and others.

Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa