Dr.  Emmanuel Ibe  Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has clarified that his mandate in the Corporation is to put in place an efficient, transparent and profit-oriented processes and not to embark on a mass retrenchment of the workforce.

In a statement issued on Sunday in obvious reference to threats by the two key labour unions to stop the ongoing restructuring of the Corporation which Kachikwu initiated upon his assumption of office.

The workers had complained about the attendant job losses of the reforms.

But the new NNPC GMD said the mandate given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari is to turn around the entire commercial processes and procedures in order to impact on the growth trajectory and operations of the Corporation.

Kachikwu also explained that the reduction in the directorate from eight to four at the top management cadre of the NNPC is to refocus and sharpen the business aspiration of the Corporation, adding that training and retraining of members of staff to align with the new vision is the next stage of the ongoing reforms.

He also revealed that all Production Sharing Contracts, Joint Venture Agreements and all other contracts between the NNPC and its various partners would be reviewed to reflect current day realities in the global oil and gas industry.

The NNPC works alongside local and international oil majors such as Shell, Exxon, Chevron as well as global oil traders, including Trafigura, Vitol and Glencore.

According to him, the repositioning going on in NNPC is to put in place the right set of skills for performance stressing that the new arrangement provides a veritable vista for upcoming professionals in the Corporation to have a speedy career path.

Kachikwu also gave the assurance that under him, NNPC would introduce  mechanisms that would plug all revenue leakages in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors while adding that all crude oil proceeds due for the Federation Account would be remitted accordingly.

The NNPC has not been publishing annual reports and its bookkeeping has been criticised as opaque, which appears to have allowed billions of dollars to disappear.

The Nigerian arm of global corruption watchdog EITI welcomed Kachikwu’s restructuring of the NNPC. It recommended reforms should also focus on ensuring accurate measurement of crude and a review of pricing for expired legal agreements with oil companies.

Other areas for reform are the huge costs of fuel subsidies, crude oil swap and product-exchange agreements, repair of refineries, oil theft, review of the existing fiscal regime and acquisition and assignments of oil blocks by discretion, NEITI said in a statement.

Kachikwu said he had started a three-pronged restructuring of the NNPC that should lead to “a new NNPC”, which he expects to emerge over the next five to six months.