Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the reformation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, instead of selling it off as is being proposed by the federal government.

Obasanjo said he believes that if there is one organization that can help the country quickly come out of recession, it is the NNPC.

He made this known in Abeokuta when the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru paid him a courtesy call.

It would be recalled that the ex-president had, during a speech at a function in Abeokuta on Tuesday, said he did not see why 48 per cent of the NNPC cannot be privatized.

But he told his guest today that, “It is our dream to see NNPC grow as an NOC (National Oil Company) just like its peers in other countries.

“I have said it at the NACOFED confab in Abeokuta yesterday that I don’t understand this talk of selling our national assets.”

“What I do understand is reforms. I believe organizations like the NNPC should be reformed. Selling of national assets is wrong.

“But reform is what I think it should be so that we can run the business the way it should be run,” NNPC quoted the former president as saying on its official twitter page.

The NNPC GMD commended Obasanjo’s “positive influence” especially in his discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari on various issues.

Baru said the NNPC is working hard to flood the market with kerosene so that prices will come down especially in the South East.

“We’ll continue to work hard towards realizing your lofty dreams of seeing NNPC grow into a transformed national oil company without any interference,” Baru told the former president.