President Muhammadu Buhari has replaced Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, as group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as part of a wider board overhaul.
Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru, previously group executive director for exploration and production, will take the reins from Kachikwu, who will remain on the board as chairman.
A statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday said the restructuring was done according to Section 1(2) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.
“President Buhari urges the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of NNPC and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset,” Adesina said.
The president’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, joins the new board, which replaces the one dissolved by Buhari in June last year as he prioritised an overhaul of the country’s oil sector.
Kachikwu, a former Exxon Mobil executive, was brought in by Buhari as head of NNPC last August and was named as oil minister when his cabinet was appointed a few months later.
The new NNPC board is composed of the following:
- Chairman-Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum;
- Group Managing Director-Dr Maikanti Kacalla Baru;
- The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; and
- The following six persons:
- Mallam Abba Kyari
- Dr Thomas M.A John
- Dr Pius O. Akinyelure
- Dr Tajuddeen Umar
- Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and
- Mallam Yusuf Lawal.
