After Meritorious Service, Kyari Bows Out Of NNPC As Tinubu Reconstitutes Board

…Appoints Ojulari New GCEO, Kida Becomes Board Chairman

After about six years of meritorious service as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari has bowed out of the state-owned oil firm following President Bola Tinubu’s reconstitution of the company’s board on Wednesday.

Kyari, a geologist and crude oil marketer who assumed office as GCEO on July 7, 2019, previously served as the Group General Manager of NNPC’s Crude Oil Marketing Division from 2015 to 2019 and as Nigerian National Representative at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Kyari has been instrumental in repositioning the NNPC Ltd. and turning it from a loss-making entity into a profitable company that has raked in over N6tn in profitability in the last four years.

From a loss position of N1.7bn in 2019, the management of the NNPC under Kyari’s leadership was able to reverse the trend by posting a profit of N287bn in 2020, N674.1bn in 2021, and N2.54tn in 2022 before hitting the current figure of N3.29tn in 2023.

He also spearheaded the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which commenced operation last year and guaranteed energy security for Nigerians.

The company under Kyari also delivered numerous gas projects to drive CNG penetration across the country.

The NNPCL entered a partnership with NIPCO to set up 35 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Lagos and other parts of the country.

Kyari had said the partnership is “part of the NNPCL commitment to reducing carbon footprint and providing cheaper alternative fuel to motorists.”

On May 19, 2024, the NNPCL and its partners delivered three critical gas infrastructures commissioned by the President.

The projects were the AHL Gas Processing Plant 2 (GPP-2)—200 mmscf/d, which is an expansion to the Kwale Gas Processing Plant (GPP-1); the AHL Gas Plant, which is being developed by AHL Limited, an incorporated joint venture owned by NNPC Limited and SEEPCO; and the ANOH-OB3 CTMS Gas Pipeline Project.

Last year, the NNPCL commissioned 12 compressed natural gas stations to reduce transportation costs in the country following the removal of petroleum subsidies by President Tinubu.

The newly built CNG stations, which had six in Lagos and six in Abuja, were commissioned by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo.

Meanwhile, the reconstitution saw the replacement of the NNPCL board chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure, and all other board members appointed in November 2023.

Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari has been appointed as the new group CEO, while Ahmadu Musa Kida takes over as non-executive chairman of the newly formed 11-man board.

Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as chief financial officer last November, retains his position on the new board.

The reconstituted board includes six non-executive directors representing the country’s geopolitical zones: Bello Rabiu (North West), Yusuf Usman (North East), Babs Omotowa (North Central), Austin Avuru (South-South), David Ige (South West), and Henry Obih (South East). Additionally, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya and Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, respectively.

The appointments announced by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, on Wednesday morning take effect immediately.

Onanuga said President Tinubu, exercising powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, noted that restructuring the board is essential for enhancing operational efficiency, investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification.

The new board has been tasked with conducting a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and joint venture assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives.

The move comes less than two years after oil sector reforms were implemented by the Tinubu administration since 2023, which reportedly attracted $17bn in new investments under Kyari’s leadership.

The administration seeks to increase investment to $30bn by 2027 and $6bn by 2030, said Onanuga.

Among ambitious targets set for the board, President Tinubu expects oil production to reach two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million by 2030.

Similarly, gas production is projected to increase to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion by 2030. The president also envisions NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to rise to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030.
The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida from Borno State, is a civil engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University with additional petroleum engineering qualifications from Institut Francaise du Petrol in Paris.

Beyond his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum and Total Exploration and Production, Kida is a former basketballer and current president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation.

Ojulari, the incoming GCEO from Kwara State, was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, which led a consortium in a $2.4bn acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.

An ABU Zaria mechanical engineering graduate, Ojulari’s career spans work with Elf Aquitaine, Shell Petroleum Development Company, and international roles in Europe and the Middle East.

Tinubu thanked Kyari and the outgoing board members for their service to NNPC Limited. He acknowledged their efforts in rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which have resumed petroleum product production after extended shutdowns.

After Meritorious Service, Kyari Bows Out Of NNPC As Tinubu Reconstitutes Board is first published on The Whistler Newspaper