The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, on Wednesday appealed to the Senate to ensure adequate funding of the oil and gas sector to guarantee sustainable revenue flow from the sector.
Mallam Kyari, at a meeting of Nigeria’s revenue generating and monitoring agencies with the leadership of the Senate at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, said that NNPC had introduced various projects aimed at integrating the oil and gas industry with the economy and called for more funding to achieve a sustainable growth in the industry.
The new NNPC boss also wants the Senate to curb cross-border smuggling of petroleum products, especially petrol, which he said was posing a challenge to the efforts of the corporation to ensure seamless supply and distribution of products in the country.
He commended the Senate for its support which he said, enabled the corporation to offset its cash-call arrears.
In his remarks, the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, said the generation and collection of revenue was critical to the success of the government hence the need for inter-agency collaboration and cooperation.
He said the meeting was convened to enable the Senate to understand the challenges of the agencies in their various operations with a view to finding solutions to them.
He expressed the determination of the Senate to revert to the January – December budget circle, while assuring that the 2020 budget would be passed before the end of 2019 if the executive sent it on time.
Senator Lawan noted that there was need to ensure an efficient and reliable revenue collection strategy for the government to grow the economy, adding that there would be regular interface between the Senate and the agencies to address their challenges.
