SAN FRANCISCO, January 16, (THEWILL) – Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has vowed to privatise the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) describing it as a “mafia organisation”.
Speaking in Lagos, on Wednesday, at an interactive session with the business community, Atiku said he would take the step even if it would cost him his life saying he is convinced that NNPC would run better if not managed by the government.
“Let me go back to my experience. When we got into office, I walked up to my boss and said ‘Sir, there are two mafia organisations in government: one is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the other one is the National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA)’,” he said.
“I said unless we dismantle these mafia organisations, we cannot make progress. Let’s privatise them the long and short of this is that I am committed to privitaisation as I have said. I swear even if they are going to kill me, I will do it.
“I asked a Nigerian professor based in America; I said ‘Prof, do you have ministry of petroleum in America?’ He said no.
“I said, ‘Do you have an organisation like NNPC over there?’ He said no. ‘And America produces oil more than any country?’ He said yes.
“So I asked him, ‘How do they do it in America?’ and he said taxation and I decided that I will go by taxation too.”
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