President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran died due to the failure of an old Presidential aircraft. Is that what we want in Nigeria? Reno Omokri

It betrays a lack of understanding of corporate governance and unawareness of how government operates when politicians and activists attack President Bola Tinubu over statements and actions of the NNPCL. 

If the public is not made aware that such criticism knowingly or inadvertently passed on wrong information to them, they will act on this incorrect information as though it were true. 

The NNPCL, though state-owned, is a limited liability company that is not subject to the Appropriation Act or the Fiscal Responsibility Act in the way ministries, departments, and agencies are. 

While MDAs are governmental organisations, the NNPCL is more accurately a quasi-governmental agency but not an actual one. 

The NNPCL right now is like the NLNG Limited and, to a limited extent, the CBN. 

Both the NLNG Ltd and the NNPCL are answerable to their board. They can spend money outside the budget because they are not a Ministry, Department or Agency of the government. They are just like any other company, such as MTN, First Bank or Indorama. The only difference between these companies and the NNPCL is their ownership. They are owned by private individuals and are publicly traded. The Nigerian state owns the NNPCL. 

The Federal Government has majority shares, which gives the President the power to appoint the GMD. 

To an extent, the NNPCL is like the CBN, which, though the President appoints the Governor, is still independent of the President and the Government. 

Ownership and control of the NNPCL are separate. These changes were not even made by this administration and are settled. 

Yes, the President is the Minister of Petroleum Resources. However, critics are mistaken in thinking that that places him in control of the NNPCL. 

The Ministry of Petroleum Resources is limited to regulating the industry and ensuring that IOCs and other major stakeholders have an enabling environment to function. 

The relationship is very similar to that between the Ministry of Power and the Gencos and Discos. 

These generating companies (Gencos) are privately owned and have a minority stake held by the federal government of Nigeria. As such, the Ministry of Power has a regulatory role in the industry. That is the whole essence of deregulation. 

And it is not peculiar to Nigeria. 

The British equivalent of NNPCL is British Petroleum. It is a wholly privately owned company, similar to British Gas and British Airways. 

Only a policy illiterate will hold the British Government responsible for their internal runnings. What you can hold the government or the United Kingdom responsible for is failure to regulate them. 

On the issue of a new presidential jet, it should be pointed out that the latest of the current presidential jets were bought during the Obasanjo administration, and collectively, they have a median age above forty years. Thus, the public should bear in mind the following:

The US ordered a new Presidential Jet from Boeing at $3.9 billion, whereas the so-called new jet is actually a fairly used jet costing an estimated $100 million.

The annual cost of maintaining the current U.S. Presidential Jet, Air Force One, is $177,000 an hour. If you take the total yearly maintenance cost, it is more than the purchase price of our new Presidential Jet.

President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran died due to the failure of an old Presidential aircraft. Is that what we want in Nigeria? 

Canada was seriously disgraced last year when the Prime Minister's jet, which was newer than our old Presidential jet, refused to start while he visited India. Now, they have ordered multiple new ones. 

Commercial planes do not always fly directly between countries on the President's itinerary and Nigeria. And it is even a security risk for our President to fly commercially.

Moreover, if flying private jets is so bad, how come Peter Obi and all major Presidential candidates in the last election rode on one?