Economic Security: NNPC Boss Mele Kyari Highlights Energy Security's Role In Wealth Creation

Mele Kyari on Tuesday said energy security has a critical role to play in the creation of public wealth. 

No public wealth creation initiative can succeed meaningfully without energy security, according to Mr. Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).

GCEO made this statement during a presentation at the Tuesday's Public Wealth Management Conference of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) in Abuja.

He mentioned that the existence of one type of energy or another is essential to the success of all other wealth-generating endeavors, including agriculture.

He revealed that Nigeria suffers from a severe energy deficit, with over 50% of the population living without access to electricity and roughly 70% of the population lacking access to clean cooking fuel.

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He stated that in the last ten years, less than 3% of all investments made in Africa have gone into Nigeria, citing various obstacles such as multiple taxation and uncertainty in the business environment as reasons for the lack of investment in the energy sector. 

He did, however, restate that NNPC Ltd was making a great effort to bridge the energy deficit gap in order to create a sustainable foundation for wealth creation. He also emphasized that the company's growth trajectory—from a loss position of N803 billion in 2018 to N2.5 trillion in 2022—was evidence of its enormous potential to spearhead the nation's wealth creation process.

He underlined that NNPC Ltd. continues to be Nigeria's highest-paying corporate entity in terms of taxes despite the difficulties.