Since his appointment as the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) in July, Mele Kyari has not lacked for visitors. Considering the vast patronage system his predecessor ran while he headed the corporation, this is understandable.
Guests have included chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil companies in Nigeria, Paul McGrath, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Nigeria, Melih Uluren, NLNG Management team, led by its Managing Director, Tony Attah President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and even journalists who call themselves association of energy reporters have visited.
After each visit, NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu dutifully releases a manicured version of the barebones of the discussions. This is expected as much of these discussions border on buying Kyari’s commitment to previous agreements reached with his predecessor, forging new relationships or just taking a measure of the man.
On the few occasions, Kyari had interacted with the public, however, he appears measured, even thoughtful. Traits not often associated with someone who led a group of oil workers union. But after 28 years with the NNPC, Kyari surely knows where all the bones are buried – being taciturn will come naturally.
Kyari’s Commitments
| 1. | Reverse petroleum products importation in the country by rehabilitating the existing refineries and encouraging private sector investment in the refineries sub-sector by 2023 |
| 2. | Meet the age-long Federal Government’s target of raising crude oil production and reserves to 3million barrels per day and 40billion barrels respectively by 2023 |
| 3. | Publish the full list of those holding the nation’s crude oil contracts and the firms who won deals to swap Nigeria’s crude oil for products |
| 4. | Publish audited accounts of NNPC’s books |
| 5. | Automation of the petroleum products sale process so that marketers can buy products online |
| 6. | Entrench the culture of accountability in the affairs of the corporation. “We are going to work with the EFCC to remove every element of discretion from our processes, because discretion is one of the greatest enablers of corruption”, said Kyari. |
The new NNPC boss is also saying all the right things. He assured ExxonMobil that NNPC will pay its share of cost of production in joint venture agreements. He told NLNG that NNPC will support it to meet its October timeline for Train-7 FID and he assured NEITI’s Waziri Adio of NNPC’s commitment to transparency.
Analysts say though Kyari is a systems man, he is a quiet reformer. His team opened up NNPC’s commodity trading to government scrutiny and he replaced the corrupt-ridden crude-swap arrangement for the Direct Sales and Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement of petroleum products.
Yet, the commitment he is making during these visits are not exactly different from the ones his predecessor made and failed to deliver. Maikanti Baru, went on to publish a 12 point programme for the NNPC. Suffice to say, if they were successful Nigeria would have stopped importation of petrol by 2019, NNPC would have an audited account and the refineries would be producing at optimal capacity, putting an end to wasteful subsidies. While there would be a litany of excuses to offer, Baru’s sun has set in the NNPC, but despite all the pomp, he failed to deliver on the things that really mattered.
While Kyari continues to meet stakeholders and make commitments, he should realise that if he is allowed to fully have his day in the sun at the NNPC, he would be held accountable for these commitments.
