NNPC to be unbundled into five zones, with 30 companies each

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation will be broken up into five operational zones the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said on Thursday.

Accordimg to the minister, who doubles and the Managing Director of the Corporation, the  unbundling will take place next week.

The Minister stated that the mega oil and gas corporation would finally be unbundled to about five main operational zones.

According to Kachikwu, each of the zones comprising 30 companies would be headed by a director each.

The NNPC is the currently fully owned by the government and is the government operator, which harness the country’s vast oil resources.

It is believed that because the complicity of its operations, it is difficult to effectively track revenues and payouts, thereby leading to massive corruption in the system.

The Corporation under the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was seen as a cesspool of corruption.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had accused the corporation of siphoning over $20 billion of the nation’s oil money. Though there were denials at all levels, the dust raised by that allegation that led to the suspension of the governor ISO yet to settle down.

Kachikwu, it is widely believed, as former ExxonMobil chief, has the requisite experience and capacity to turn things around in the corporation.