The new Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, has announced the appointment of four new Group Executive Directors, GEDs, to run the four new Directorates that were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It will be recalled that following the compulsory retirement of the former eight GEDs on August 5, the NNPC Directorates were pruned to four.
The appointments came as all the subsidiary Chief Executive Officers, CEOs, were also fired and replaced immediately. It also makes good President Buhari’s promise of complete overhaul of the corporation that has been linked with corruption.
The development also confirms Vanguard’s earlier report that the Strategic Business Units of subsidiaries’ CEOs were originally meant to go with the former eight GEDs, but the decision was stepped down for a later date.
In a statement from the NNPC, yesterday, Kachikwu was quoted as saying that the new appointments are in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration to transform the corporation into a lean, efficient, business-focused, transparent and accountable national oil company in keeping with international best practices.
To this end, the NNPC top management staff cadre has also been trimmed from 122 to 83, as 38 of them are to proceed on compulsory retirements.
New appointments
In addition to the four new GEDs, a total of 15 new appointments were announced by the NNPC with 12 of them coming from outside the fold.
The NNPC said the 12 were appointed “in line with the aspiration to reposition the corporation … to jump-start a new business outlook to enhance the operational environment as a profit-driven business as against the current civil service orientation.”
The new Group Executive Directors that will head the four Directorates are: Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production; Mr. Isiaka Abdulrazaq, Group Executive Director, Finance & Services; Mr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology; and, Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment (outside the fold).
Furthermore, Mr. Chidi Momah is now the Group General Manager, Company Secretary & Legal Adviser. Momah, one of the 12 from outside NNPC until his appointment, was the Executive General Manager, Government Relations & Communications, Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria.
For the Strategic Business Units are: Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC; Mr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company, WRPC (outside the fold); Mr. Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Mr. Inuwa Ibrahim Waya; Managing Director, Hyson (outside the fold); Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC (outside the fold); Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.
Others are Mr. Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd, IDSL (outside the fold); Mr. Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Properties (outside the fold); Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil (outside the fold) and, Mr. Dafe Sejebor, Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS.
Experts’ opinions
Those who spoke to Vanguard in confidence on the new appointments, however, cautioned that the criteria for the appointments should be well defined.
According to them, “Let them (NNPC) not throw away the good hands like what happened during the time of Funsho Kupolokun as the GMD, when some staff were compulsorily retired from the refineries, but were later brought back on contract terms. It was discovered that these guys were the only ones who could handle some very critical components of the refineries, so there was no choice but to bring them back.”
Some industry experts, who spoke with Vanguard during Kachikwu’s appointment, had predicted that the new helmsman would need to appoint some of his lieutenants from outside the NNPC family, if he is to succeed in his mission.
Others had also emphasised the need to prune the top management cadre to pave the way for brighter and younger minds who had been rendered redundant on account of the top-heavy management.
