A former presidential aide, Mr. Reno Omokri, has said it was erroneous to blame President Bola Tinubu for business decisions made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
He stated that despite the federal government’s ownership of the national oil company, its board of directors was responsible for its management and must be held accountable for all its decisions made in accordance with its obligation to run the business profitably.
“It betrays a lack of understanding of corporate governance and ignorance of how government operates when politicians and activists attack President Bola Tinubu over the NNPCL’s statements and actions,” Omokri said in a statement.
Omokri, who was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s special assistant on New Media, emphasized that the company’s decisions should be attributed to its management, not the president.
“The NNPCL, though state-owned, is a limited liability company that is not subject to the Appropriation Act or the Fiscal Responsibility Act in the way ministries, departments, and agencies are,” he explained.
President Tinubu has faced criticism over the recent petrol price hikes by the NNPCL, which triggered angry reactions from the public. Many believed that the national oil company, wholly owned by the federal government, could not adjust its product prices without the president’s assent.
However, Omokri argued that the company’s decisions should be attributed to its management, not the president.
