(Jan. 27, 2009) The Nigerian National Assembly is considering a bill, An Act to Establish the Legal and Regulatory Framework, Institutions and Regulatory Authorities for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, which seeks to restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and make its operations transparent. Under its current structure, the NNPC is empowered to operate under the Official Secrets Act of Nigeria, but if this bill is passed into law, it will:
1. transform the NNPC into a limited liability company – the “National Oil Company Limited” – and compel it to fully disclose to its shareholders information regarding its operations, “including information on financial and operating results, the company's objectives, major share owners, and voting rights and remuneration policy for members of the board and key executives”
2. compel the company to publicly disclose information on its board members, including their qualifications and the process of their selection;
3. require the company to make available information on “related transactions, foreseeable risk factors in the company's activities, issues regarding employees and other stakeholders, governance, structures and policies, in particular, the content of any other corporate governance code or policy and the process by which it is implemented”; and
4. mandate that the annual audit be conducted by “an independent, competent, experienced and qualified auditor that shall be accountable to shareholders and shall provide an external and objective assurance to the board and shareholders that the financial statements fairly represent the financial position and performance of the National Oil Company in all material respects.”
(Leon Usigbe, New Law Strips NNPC of Secrecy of Operations, VANGUARD, Jan. 16, 2009, available at http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/26263/49/.)