BPE boss calls for separation of NNPC from DPR

The Acting Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Vincent Akpotaire has called for the separation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

According to him, the oil and gas industry is not efficient and effective because PDR which is the industry regulator functions as an arm of the NNPC.

BPE boss said this in a paper titled: ‘The Petroleum Industry Reform in Nigeria: Reinventing the Wheel by Innovation’, which he presented at the national stakeholders’ workshop on the petroleum industry reform.

His position was contained in a statement by the Head of Public Communications BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Akpotaire canvassed the separation of the roles of the regulator from the operator and policy formulation in the NNPC as presently obtainable in the corporation.

“The NNPC currently acts as the policymaker, the regulator as well as an operator of the policies, which go against international best practices. The Department of Petroleum Resources, which ought to be a regulator, is an arm of the NNPC in the present arrangement.

“The challenges we are facing today were envisaged by the BPE over 10 years ago hence, the articulation of the petroleum sector reform and the first-ever drafted Petroleum Industry Bill. After over a decade, we are still talking about the problems rather than the solutions.” The statement stated.