Atiku: NNPC is a mafia organisation… I’ll privatise it even if they’ll kill me

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), has described the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) as a “mafia organisation”, vowing to privatise
it if elected.

Speaking in Lagos during an interactive session with the
business community on Wednesday, Atiku said he would take the step
even if doing so would cost him his life.

He explained that he sold the idea to ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo whom he deputised between 1999 and 2007 but that the
former president did not approve of it.

Atiku said 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 (privatise NNPC).”

Atiku also spoke on how an expert in the petroleum sector
influenced his stance on privatisation of NNPC.

“I asked a Nigerian professor based in America; I said ‘Prof, do
you have ministry of petroleum in America?’ He said no,” he
said.

“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.”
Joined by Peter Obi, his running mate, Atiku fielded questions that
ranged from the economy to security, health and unemployment.”

He also criticised the current administration for the delay in
passing the petroleum industry governance bill (PIGB).

Atiku, who said the level of unemployment in the country is
worrying, narrated his encounter with idle youth during his
campaign rallies.

He said if left unchecked the lack of adequate jobs could create
a bigger problem.