The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said that 577 firms have indicated interest to secure the insurance renewal contract for its oil and non-oil assets.

In a statement signed by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, on Sunday on Abuja, NNPC said the bidding was part of its efforts to ensure transparency.

It quoted the NNPC Group General Manager, Risk Management and Insurance, Mr. Modupe Bameke to have said that the bidding was also a requirement of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

“The essence of this public bid opening is to ensure that the Corporation complies strictly with the provisions of the BPP Act.

“All the bids will be opened in the presence of everybody to ensure that all entries are properly captured in line with the transparency principle of the NNPC,” he said.

Also, the Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, Mr. Shehu Liman informed that the public opening bids measure was aimed at providing a level playing field for all bidding companies.

“The idea is to select broking and insurance companies that are credible and capable with track records of performance. What this means is that we are going to eliminate all those transactions that are not necessary,” he added

A breakdown of bidders shows that 245 brokers tendered for oil assets, 251 brokers tendered for non-oil assets while 37 insurance companies tendered for oil assets and 44 tendered for non-oil assets.

Representatives of the companies which tendered bids and in whose presence the bids were opened applauded NNPC for sustaining the culture of transparency and accountability through the exercise.

The bid opening event had in attendance officials of the BPP, the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and the National Insurance Commission as well as members of the civil society who served as independent assessors (NAN)

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