Mele Kyari Kicks Off Sweeping Reforms At NNPC, Redeploys Top Management

Less than two months after assuming office as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari may have kick-started his plans to bring sweeping reforms to the Corporation.

A gale of redeployment is sweeping through the NNPC and its frontline subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, (NPDC), in an effort to improve transparency operational efficiency.

 The effort, described by some sources as a move to restore the integrity of the Corporation, has seen the redeployment of at least 15 managers from the NPDC alone.

Kyari came into office on July 8 with a firm promise to reform the operations of the State oil corporation and improve transparency. 

 His appointment was widely hailed by stakeholders largely because of his pedigree as a stickler for transparency.

Sources say the on-going redeployment of top managers of the Corporation is just the beginning of a new regime of accountability and transparency.

“The cleansing will also get to  the lower cadres of the corporation because the essence of the strategic reform is to enhance operational efficiency so that the NPDC will be meeting its obligations,” a source explained. 

In line with his vision to improve the revenue base of the Corporation, Kyari has injected new blood into the system as the redeployment has brought in fresh hands to drive the process of cleaning up the system and block leakages.

THE WHISTLER exclusively got the names of some of the top managers redeployed and they include Norbert Nnakenyi Ifediba, Mobiddo Ahmed Tijani, Sherif Timothy Kibon, Cyrusba Dagogo-Jack and Dala Joshua Asundu.

Zero Tolerance To Corruption

Kyari is said to be worried about the effect of corruption on the operation of NNPC and is determined to institute a culture of zero tolerance for corruption for the Corporation and all its subsidiaries.

Reiterating Kyari’s pledge to reposition the corporation, the source noted that financial leakages have been plugged while decade-long corruption gang activities are being curbed by the new management team.

“The focus of the spectrums’ down-to-earth reforms is transparency in their dealings and official businesses and the corporations play strictly by the rules.

“It is also a clear indicator that this anti-corruption drive is far more than a one-off statement of intent and is now a fundamental tenet of the NNPC in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s vision for the oil and gas industry,’’ the source stressed.

Offshore facilities for workers had been in a deplorable state and has become a safety hazard to the workers as JV partners were not paying cash calls and not paying the host communities for industrial peace.

 “The situation is so bad that the NTB, NNPC Tender Board had to shut down all contracts, hence the new Managing Director NPDC, Mansur Sambo has been reviewing and reversing all bad contracts,” said a top source in NNPC.

Following this, it was gathered that the new NPDC leadership has written several letters to the JV Partners warning them to fulfil their obligations to the host communities and refrain from diverting funds meant for the communities to pay themselves.

“For too long too many officials working with some bands of contractors and Joint Venture  Partners have treated the state oil as personal estate.

“And the new leadership has sent a very clear warning to them: That era has ended,” the top official said.

Debt Recovery

As soon as  Sambo was appointed, he embarked on vigorous recovery of millions of dollars owed to the NPDC.

“Those affected by the sweeping changes are currently fighting back and dishing out all sorts of propaganda and lies aimed at rubbishing the reforms carried out by the leadership,” the source added. 

Recall that Mele Kyari had pledged to launch the oil and gas world into a more transparent, accountable, and performance excellence NNPC. 

 “We will particularly focus on the growth of NPDC and to make it among the top three crude oil producing companies in the country within three years. On the gas sector, our strategic aspiration is to open the domestic market further to support improved power generation and the growth of gas-based industries,” he had stated.