The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Kachikwu on Wednesday announced that Nigeria is to make its first initial public offering of assets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2018.

“It’s inevitable. Part of the cleaning up process that we’re doing is to prepare for that”, Kachikwu said.

He added that the country is to sell the shares in its refining and distribution business as well as exploration and production assets to the public.

NNPC’s obligation is to control and handle Nigeria’s shares in joint ventures with international oil companies in the country. The corporation also operates refineries and a distribution network of depots and pipelines nationwide.

According to Kachikwu, the Federal Government plans to reorganize NNPC. The reorganization is to bring about four operative business units from several units that are frequently making losses, and return them back to a profitable state, Bloomberg reports.

Anita Fatunji