The decision included the removal of Mele Kyari as the group chief executive officer (GCEO), and Pius Akinyelure, as Board chairman, of the NNPCL respectively.

Consequently, the President appointed Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group CEO of NNPCL, while Ahmadu Musa Kida takes over as the non-executive chairman of the reconstituted 11-man Board of the oil company.

According to a release issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the President also removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.

The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.

Also, Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.

Six board members, non-executive directors, representing the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (Nort- East), and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG) represents North Central zone.

President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South-West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South-East.

Permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

All the appointments are effective Wednesday, April 2.

President Tinubu, while invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board’s restructuring was crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.

President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.

Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030.

The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030.

Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.

Furthermore, President Tinubu expected the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.

The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984.

He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrole (IFP) in Paris.

He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985. Musa became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group.

Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a former basketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF) board.

Who is Bashir Bayo Ojulari?

Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company.

His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion.

Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist.

Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.

In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).

During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigeria Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

President Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavours.

Within a space of two months, he announced the successful revamp of two refineries. In November 2024, Port Harcourt refinery came on stream.

Kaduna refinery is projected to begin production later this year. And if all goes well, a substantial percentage of the nation’s local petrol consumption would be sourced in-country.

The implication on forex, job creation and economic reflation is enormous, positively.

So what?

Some Nigerians have asked this question. I won’t even tag them naysayers.  There is a tincture of justification in their rage. But if such Nigerians did not rage against those who in the past brought the refineries – Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna – to ruins, they should not shudder at the celebratory dance of President Bola Tinubu and his laudation of Kyari and his team for achieving both the improbable and the impossible.

After many years of redundancy, after several failed attempts to restream the moribund refineries with billions of dollars wasted in the fitful misadventures, someone has finally belled the cat. Such a person deserves a worthy pat on the back.

Little wonder, President Tinubu was gushing at the news of Warri refinery cracking back to life. Here, I salute the wisdom of Tinubu in keeping Kyari on his job.

Against a crude and virulently malicious campaign to get Kyari out of the way, Tinubu ignored the mob and renewed Kyari’s tenure. One of the missteps of the past was a high and volatile turnover of leadership at the nation’s oil and gas behemoth.

Common-sense management will tell you that job insecurity, at any level, is antithetical to sustainable planning for long term goals.

Fixing a refinery, especially one that has been rendered comatose for many years (with some bolts and parts gone rusty) is not a one-hour flight. It’s a long-distance haul, requiring patience, precision and meticulous planning.

Had Kyari been shoved aside to fit the script of his ‘enemies’ and political mandarins seeking to give ‘wise’ counsel to Tinubu, these refineries would never have come on stream.

In the stereotypical Nigerian way, the new management would have reviewed the contract, reworked the papers and even re-awarded aspects of the contract to another corporate. Herein is the wisdom of Tinubu in retaining Kyari highly commendable.

As more Nigerians push for the refineries to attain 100 percent production efficiency, it is apposite to state what Kyari did differently. How did Kyari succeed where many others in the past failed woefully?

Dateline: October 21, 2021, NAF Conference centre, Abuja: Kyari was Special Guest of Honour at the All Nigeria Editors’ Conference. He spoke off the cuff on the subject, “Insecurity as it affects the Oil and Gas sector.”

He showed a good grasp of the malaise that has afflicted the Nigerian oil and gas industry. He, however, raised a banner of hope that under his watch, “things are now done differently.”

He said issues of refineries not working, crude oil theft, among others, are all traceable to the Nigerian elite which include the editors and everyone present at the event.

Kyari said that refineries had become comatose because the leadership elite had been doing things the wrong way over the years by relying on the builders of the refineries to come to Nigeria to fix the refineries.

This model, he explained, does not happen anywhere because there are specialists whose business is to fix such refineries. They are not the builders but their job is to fix them when they break down.

He called such companies EPCs (Engineering, Procurement and Construction). He gave an analogy: “You cannot ask Toyota to come down to Nigeria to fix your Toyota car. You give it to a technician. This is the error we have been repeating over the years.”

He credited President Muhammadu Buhari for giving his management the free hand to do the right thing.

“This is the first time in history that NNPC and its subsidiaries are allowed to do things the way things should be done. Now, I can confirm to you that we have taken responsibility and we will fix the refineries. We have started the process, contractors have been mobilised to the Port Harcourt refinery, while the same process for Warri and Kaduna refineries will be concluded by the end of this year,” he told a now excited crowd of over 200 editors, representatives of several government agencies including security agencies and the private sector. He got a standing ovation afterwards.

Fast forward. Three years later at the twilight of 2024, two of the refineries had become operational once again all because Kyari walked a different path. It’s no magic. Just focussed, honest leadership. Kyari had been sincere as the helmsman of the NNPC even to his own hurt.

The first NNPC honcho to open the ledger for public scrutiny. He did not only audit NNPC accounts, he got them published. And for once in ages, Nigerians got to know the assets, liabilities, strength and weaknesses of the company they own.

Kyari has shown that he is a different breed of leader, a transformational leader who has used the same personnel at NNPC, in the same country, against the same headwinds to achieve milestones, some once thought unattainable.

Retaining Kyari, a man he did not appoint, is one of the smartest decisions of President Tinubu. Kyari bestrides two worlds in Nigeria’s oil and gas history.

The pre-PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) and the post-PIA, a delicate transition that required experience, emotional intelligence, industry knowledge, and leadership savvy.

If the transition was a kind of exam for him, the geologist, earth scientist of crude oil marketer of renown simply aced it.

He proved one thing: Nigeria’s challenges can be surmounted by Nigerians.

He deserves all the Presidential plaudits and a green ribbon around his neck as a memorial of national honour.

*Ken Ugbechie is the Publisher Political Economist.

A statement signed by Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer, NNPC Ltd., quoted Kyari, who was addressing the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee investigating alleged economic sabotage in the Nigeria Petroleum Industry at the National Assembly on Wednesday, stating that refining business is a straightforward business which any investor should know before coming into the market.

“Refining business is a straightforward business. You must secure (a source for) your feedstock and you must find a market. This is basic and this determines what happens in any refinery anywhere in the world. That is the business of refining. We have done nothing to sabotage any domestic refinery,” Kyari stated.

According to the GCEO, the law is very clear on domestic crude oil supply obligation and also on providing for local refineries. However, Kyari added, the same law also said that there must be a willing buyer and a willing seller.

On alleged importation of sub-standard products into the country, Kyari said the NNPC Limited has nothing to do with that as the relevant regulatory agencies will, by law, not allow any sub-standard product into the country.

The GCEO also supported calls for the Ad-hoc Committee to beam the interactive sessions live on national television to prevent misinforming Nigerians.

He explained that there is enough infrastructure to produce two million barrels of crude per day but the challenges of crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and absence of investment in the upstream are the major factors hindering the sector.

He said as a company owned by the over 200 million Nigerians, the NNPC Limited has grown from a loss-making position to a profit-making entity.

While pledging full co-operation towards the Committee in its efforts to unravel the allegations being investigated, Kyari said the NNPC Limited, its entire board, management and staff remain loyal, faithful and committed to Nigeria and will continue to act in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Company & Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and other enabling laws and regulations governing the nation’s energy Industry.

“We are faithful, loyal and committed to the progress and development of this country. It is our duty to protect the overall interest of this great nation. We are not in breach of any rules,” Kyari concluded.

The agreement was signed at the NNPC Ltd’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, with senior management teams from both companies in attendance.

Speaking shortly after the signing, Mr. Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of NNPC Ltd, described the ongoing reforms within the industry as a trigger for potential release of investments in the short term.

“Quite a number of reforms are unfolding, and at the back of it is a potential release of investment that we are seeing in a very short term. Our physical environment is excellent today; contracting processes have been reviewed by virtue of the clear reforms Mr. President has put in place; and ultimately, we are already seeing substantial energy going into unlocking opportunities of today,” Kyari stated.

Highlighting the numerous benefits of the partnership, Kyari said it would lead to increased activity and more drilling campaigns that will add value to the two organisations.

He revealed that NNPC was working on a rig share platform with a definite plan around well drilling activities and associated operations in the coming years, which, he further explained, would increase crude oil production and support the ongoing plan to deepen gas utilization within the country.

Kyari, who expressed confidence in the long-standing relationship between NNPC Ltd and Schlumberger (SLB), said the NNPC would leverage on the assets within its control to accelerate the values that will come from this partnership.

“We are counting on Schlumberger (SLB) as our partners of 70 years. We are in business; we see the opportunities and strategic need to work with you and ultimately, we will create value for our country, “ the GCEO noted.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Schlumberger (SLB), Mr. Olivier Le Peuch said the agreement was poised to accelerate the achievement of Nigeria’s exploration and production targets, which will foster Nigeria’s economic growth and prosperity.

“We are here to celebrate the strategic partnership that we signed with EnServ as a technical partner. This agreement is geared towards unlocking the capacities of EnServ for Nigeria, which potentially will help NNPC Ltd to achieve its exploration and production targets. We look forward to using this technical partnership as a springboard to accelerate the vision that the industry needs,” Le Peuch added.

He noted that as a company that has been on the shores of Nigeria for 70 years, Schlumberger (SLB) remains committed to investing in local talents and building capacity through technology and performance.

“We are pleased to be at the center of this transition and are in a position where we can bring our technical capability, technology, and capacity to the country so as to support the operations of NNPC Ltd,” he concluded.

Mr. Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer of NNPC Ltd, made this submission in a keynote address on industry operations with the theme, “Stability in the Energy Sector: Integrated Strategies for Infrastructure, Transportation and Security,” at the 2024 edition of Society of Petroleum Engineers Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (SPE OLEF) held in Abuja, on Thursday.

To bridge the energy access gap in Nigeria, Kyari said NNPC Ltd was working on developing the right infrastructure to deliver oil and gas to drive prosperity for Nigerians.

“We are committed to developing gas infrastructure across the country,” Kyari stated, stressing that the company’s commitment was not just a statutory requirement of the Petroleum Industry Act, but a pledge to ensure energy security beyond fuel supply.

“We are dedicated to investing in critical infrastructure to enhance economic prosperity by supplying gas to the domestic market, targeting at least 8 billion cubic meters,” Kyari added.

He listed some of the infrastructural projects being undertaken by the NNPC Ltd to help bridge the energy access gap in Nigeria to include the Obiafu/Obrikom/Oben (OB3) and Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipelines, adding that they are designed to enhance the nation’s gas supply network.

On the global front, Kyari said NNPC Ltd was working on expanding gas supply to the international market primarily through the NLNG Train 7 project while efforts were also being made to kick off Train 8 as well as the various floating LNG initiatives.

Kyari called for support in leveraging Nigeria’s abundant gas resources for economic prosperity, emphasizing the need to bridge access gaps in electricity and clean cooking fuel.

He assured stakeholders and investors of the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he said is committed to the gas revolution.

Also speaking at the event, Engr. Salahuddeen Tahir, Chairperson of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Council and Head of Asset and Investments Management (NGPIS), emphasized the critical role of energy in modern society, stating: “It’s a trigger for essential services such as transportation, heating, electricity generation, medical services, security, banking services, and communication.”

Tahir said there was need to develop a diversified and sustainable energy transportation system as a measure for mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security.

This year’s edition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (SPE OLEF) is the 24th in the series having debuted in 1991.

The forum is focused on contributing to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry policy development in commemoration of the first commercial oil discovery in Nigeria by Shell D’Arcy at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State in 1956.

Mr. Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC, made the clarification at the opening ceremony of the 7th edition of the Nigerian International Energy Summit 2024 (NIES 2024), which held at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday.

He explained that by virtue of its statutory mandate as the enabler of national energy security, NNPC Ltd.’s role is to ensure that, at the end of the day, there is optimal and sustainable production from the divested assets to guarantee energy security for the benefit of Nigerians.

Kyari also disclosed the company’s willingness to invest in the proposed African Energy Bank as a way of ensuring sustainable funding for energy projects in Africa to guarantee energy security.

On investment in energy infrastructure to drive energy security, the GCEO further disclosed that the completion of the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben Pipeline was in sight as the tunnelling across the River Niger was currently ongoing.

He assured stakeholders of the company’s commitment to work with them to close the energy deficit gap and create prosperity for Nigerians, adding that from all indications, all issues of energy scarcity in the country would be over in the next 10 years.

The event saw the participation of key industry and governmental figures, including Haitham al-Ghais, Secretary-General of OPEC; Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization; Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil); Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas); Amb. Nicholas Agbo Ella, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources; and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, who represented the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The GCEO stated this in a presentation at the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Public Wealth Management Conference which held in Abuja on Tuesday.

He noted that all other wealth creating activities such as agriculture rely heavily on one form of energy or the other to thrive.

“If you don’t have energy, you don’t have agriculture. You can do all the agriculture but you can’t take it to the market, you may not be able to preserve it, you can’t even export it. So, all those indices are clearly connected to the ability to create energy,” he emphasized.

He disclosed that Nigeria has a huge energy deficit with about 70% of the population lacking access to clean cooking fuel and over 50% lacking access to electricity.

He listed some of the impediments to the achievement of energy security in Nigeria to include lack of investment in the energy sector due to uncertainty in the business environment and multiple-taxation, adding that in the last 10 years, less than 3% of the total investment flow into Africa came into Nigeria.

He, however, assured that NNPC Ltd was working hard to lay the foundation for sustainable wealth creation by filling the energy deficit gap, stressing that the company’s growth trajectory from a loss position N803bn in 2018 to N2.5tr in 2022 was a testimony to the abundant potential of NNPC Ltd to lead the process of wealth creation in the country.

He emphasized that in spite of the challenges, NNPC Ltd is still the highest tax paying corporate entity in Nigeria.

Kyari made this call while speaking as a Guest Lecturer during the 2024 Faculty Lecture titled, “Energy Security, Sustainability and Profitability in Nigeria: Advances, Challenges and Opportunities,” organized by the Faculty of Science of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Wednesday.

In his lecture, Kyari highlighted the important role academic communities, such as the prestigious OAU, play in safeguarding national energy security through research and collaboration with the industry.

While pointing out the challenges hindering energy security in Nigeria to include rapid population growth, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft, Kyari identified energy conservation, diversification, and efficiency measures as major avenues for enhancing energy security.

Addressing the projected rapid population growth, Kyari harped on the importance of finding solutions to ensure sustainable energy security for the benefit of current and future generations.

He underscored the intensified competition for vital resources and urbanization drive, which would lead to a doubling of Nigeria’s energy demand by 2050.

On the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, the GCEO observed that the issues have impacted NNPC Ltd.’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control center has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites, removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism across operating corridors since 2021.

“The centre provides livestreaming of surveillance data to security forces, contributing to the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery (IR) sites and the removal of 4,480 Illegal Connections (ICs) from 2021 to the present,” the GCEO added.

Acknowledging the severity of vandalism and oil theft, Kyari hinted at a strategic shift, focusing on increased products trucking and storage in underground tankages at NNPC filling stations nationwide.

He highlighted NNPC Ltd.’s expanded retail assets, making it the largest single downstream company in sub-Saharan Africa after acquiring OVH retail stations and associated downstream infrastructure in 2021.

While underscoring NNPC Ltd.’s transformation into a fully commercial limited liability energy company following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, Kyari said the removal of fuel subsidies has allowed the Company to play a more active commercial role, ensuring profitability and delivering greater value to Nigeria’s growing population.

Mr. Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Company, gave the assurance during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance at the National Assembly, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Speaking on the dynamics of the market in relation to the projected budget benchmark price of $77.96 per barrel, Kyari said: “With what we see in the market today and potentially in the year 2024 and even beyond the next two years, it is very unlikely to see $70 per barrel oil in the market.

The oscillation we are seeing, sometimes you do see prices coming down to $75 to the barrel and sometimes it goes above it, overall, benchmarks are averages. We think that the proposal by Mr. President around the $77.96 is still realisable in 2024.”

On the crude oil production projection, he stated:

“The number we have is 1.785mbpd. This is cumulative of all oil produced in the country. This figure is inclusive of all production including crude oil and condensate. I need to make this clarification because of the reports in the media that our OPEC quota is 1.5million barrels per day. The OPEC quota is related only to crude oil. We also do between 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day of condensate in our production. When you combine the two, the 1.78mbpd is realistic and realisable.”

He expressed optimism that though there were challenges such as security and force majeure, the measures being deployed by the Federal Government would be able to take care of them to guarantee the projected level of production.

The GCEO also assured that NNPC Ltd. will maintain the level of dividends remittance to the Federation Account as stated in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, adding that the projected dividends from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. was also realizable and would be flowed directly into the Federation Account as stipulated by the law.

While answering a question on the Company’s Road Tax Credit Scheme, Kyari explained that all the roads being undertaken under the scheme would be duly completed, adding that the scheme was anchored by the Ministry of Works while the Federal Inland Revenue Service and NNPC Ltd. were only playing supervisory roles to ensure that value is delivered for every kobo paid.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, said the purpose of the interactive session was to deepen conversations on the projections in the 2024 Appropriation Bill to help the lawmakers determine what and where to adjust.

He expressed satisfaction with the explanations offered by the NNPC Ltd.’s helmsman.

The GCEO made this known while speaking at a Regional CEO Panel organised by McKinsey & Company on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Conference on Climate Change (UNCCC), also known as the COP28 Conference, in Dubai, UAE, on Monday.

The GCEO, who joined other global energy leaders from the United States, Holland, and Oman to highlight energy perspectives and insights on the evolving energy market, said the world must understand Africa’s peculiarities in addressing the effects of climate change on energy businesses.

“I have always advocated for a differentiated and just energy transition. In Africa, we have different circumstances compared to other places in the world.

In Africa today, 75% of our population doesn’t have access to electricity, leaving us with biomass as a key energy source. The world needs to recognize that the most practicable thing today is to substitute what we have in the short term to close the energy gap for our rising population,” he stated.

With Nigeria forecasted to be among the global top 10 economies by 2035 and 3rd in terms of the global population by the same year, the GCEO said it is critical that the energy poverty question be discussed as nations unite to achieve net zero by 2050.

According to the GCEO, with abundant natural gas reserves of 206 trillion cubic feet (tcf) that have the potential to rise to 600tcf, Nigeria is currently utilizing gas to drive its journey towards energy transition.

He said that NNPC Ltd. is creating a regional gas pipeline network to supply natural gas across the African continent and boost its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply to the foreign market.

Explaining that NNPC Ltd. is currently eliminating gas flares in almost all its gas projects, Kyari said the idea is to deploy such gas towards developing power plants nationwide, which will boost nationwide electricity supply, create employment opportunities, and trigger the nation’s industrial and economic development.

He said that to demonstrate NNPC Ltd’s commitment to a net-zero future by 2025, the Company recently signed up as a participant in the United Nations Global Compact in New York, becoming the first state-owned oil company to join the global initiative.