Baru assures staff of determination to lead NNPC to profitability

The Group Managing Di­rector of the Nigerian Na­tional Petroleum Cor­poration (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru has assured staffers that under his watch, the corporation will continue with the previous initiatives to further grow the business and increase profitabil­ity as envisioned by the founders of the corporation.

The assurance came barely four days after operational report by NNPC showed that it recorded a trade deficit of N26.51 billion in the month of June.

But Baru during his maiden town hall meeting with members of staff at the NNPC Towers in Abu­ja, the corporation is making pos­itive transition to profitability and growth.

A statement by NNPC’s spokes­man, Garba Deen Muhammad yes­terday, quoted him to have said that “the NNPC is today in transition for positive reform. A transition to au­tonomy, profitability and growth. This transition is not only inevitable but imperative in the light of cur­rent business realities and the onus on NNPC to deliver on its statuto­ry mandate”.

He stated that “we have a col­lective responsibility to ensure the success of this ongoing reform in NNPC. The task of doing so begins with you and me, by changing our attitude; particularly, the way we work and do business.

“We are all required to devel­op mindsets that emphasize dili­gence, commitment and sacrifice. Therefore, it is indeed not going to be business as usual’’, the GMD stressed.

Speaking on behalf of the staff, the NNPC Group Chairman of Ni­geria Union of Petroleum and Nat­ural Gas (NUPENG), Comrade Mathew Duru expressed the read­iness of the unions to support Dr. Baru and his management team to succeed in their onerous task to reposition the Corporation for growth and profitability.

Meanwhile, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has com­mended the Nigerian National Pe­troleum Corporation (NNPC) for subjecting itself to tax audit as a good responsible corporate citizen.

The Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Tunde Fowler gave the commen­dation when he received the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru and his man­agement team at the FIRS Revenue House in Abuja.