Mele Kyari Charts a New Course for NNPC

-By Gideon Osaka

Mallam Mele Kyari, the new Group Managing Director, GMD, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, may have set out to chart a new course for the nation’s national oil company.

Known for his welfarist activism, as a labour leader, Kyari may have set his goal to see a vibrant and performing NNPC. Not quite long after taking the helm of office, Kyari engaged the Chief Operating Officers of the various Autonomous Business Units (ABUs) of the Corporation at a sign-off event to formally commit to the delivery of the key priority areas at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

Speaking at the event, Kyari charged members of his management team to work assiduously to deliver on the key priority areas of growing the nation’s crude oil reserves and production, ensuring steady supply of petroleum products and supplying adequate gas to meet the next level agenda of the Federal Government. He explained that all the key performance areas (KPAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) were designed by in-house experts without inputs from consultants, adding that it was an indication of the abundant talents within the corporation’s human resource base.

“I have the conviction that we can deliver on these KPAs and even do more. We have enormous goodwill from our various stakeholders and Nigerians that we can do things differently. Let me emphasize that our stakeholders have tremendous trust in us and it is only excellent performance that can sustain the trust they have in us,” Kyari said.

He maintained that the clear goal of his management was to drive an NNPC that is Transparent and Accountable with Performance Excellence (TAPE), stressing that the milestones for all the Autonomous Business Units (ABUs) and Strategic Business Units (SBUs) would be delivered within the timelines.

The GMD also said that the KPAs were the roadmap for growth and consolidation, assuring that his management would ensure effective stimulation of industrial growth in the country. Tagged the Roadmap for Growth and Consolidation, Kyari’s new corporate vision of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) is expected to ensure that all of NNPC’s seven Directorates leverage on technology and innovation to deliver on their Key Priority Areas (KPAs).

The KPAs also have clear-cut roadmap and strategies towards actualizing the TAPE mandate.

For the Upstream Directorate, the KPAs are: growing the nation’s reserves and increasing production; while the KPAs for the Gas and Power Directorate include the expansion of the gas sector footprint towards stimulating industrialization.

While the Refining and Petrochemicals Directorates would focus on enhancing local refining capacity as its KPA, the Downstream Directorate would ensure efficient and seamless petroleum products supply to guarantee energy security for the country and ensure that the critical oil and gas infrastructure are secured, and the Ventures Directorate would work to ensure that the corporation’s new businesses are capitalized and commercialised.

For the Corporate Services Directorate, the Key Priority Areas are the development of the corporation’s human capital and excellent service delivery, while the Finance and Accounts Directorate is charged with ensuring financing for growth and effective liquidity management.

In his strive to halt rising cross-border leakages, the GMD has sought the intervention of the Department of State Services, DSS.

Kyari, who called on the DSS to help squelch the escalating cases of petroleum products smuggling and other allied vices which had remained a clog in the drive to achieve efficiency in the operations of the oil and gas industry, lamented the negative impacts of the activities of smugglers and related ills on the nation’s economy.

According to him, the intolerable implication of the reign of smuggling syndicates was that Nigeria is the unintended supplier of petroleum products to the entire west coast of Africa and beyond. The NNPC GMD listed other areas for immediate intervention to include: oil pipeline vandalism which has led to significant losses in revenue, protection of NNPC workforce and equipment in course of operation in the frontier exploration fields. Kyari stated that the assistance being sought from DSS would go a long way to guaranteeing a veritable national energy security in line with the aspiration of the Service to the government and people of Nigeria. He noted that the attainment of the aforementioned goals would not only be helpful to NNPC’s operations but would ultimately impact on the generality of the populace since NNPC is the biggest enabler of the Nigeria economy.

Also Kyari said that NNPC is committed to harnessing Nigeria’s abundant gas resources for the benefit of Nigerians. Speaking at a gas and power breakfast briefing on the sidelines of the Gas Technology Exhibition and Conference (GASTECH) held in Houston, United States, Kyari, who was represented by the Managing Director of Nigeria Gas Company, NGC, Salihu Jamari, said, “Nigeria is more of a gas nation than oil and for us, gas is the future. We have therefore committed to providing the necessary support required to ensure Nigeria takes its rightful place in the international gas market,” While describing the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) as a very critical company for Nigeria, Kyari appealed to prospective investors to consider investing in the organization for the benefit of shareholders and the entire Nigerians. “There are a lot of opportunities within Nigeria’s LNG value-chain. I would like to assure you that the NLNG is the best destination for investment,” he added.

Since his assumption of office on 8th July 2019, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari has been engaging different stakeholders in the petroleum industry, who either paid him courtesy visits or those who he visited himself, with the aim of synergizing to find a lasting solutions to the industry problems. Latest of such visit undertaken by the GMD was his courtesy call on the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola where he sought the collaboration of the ministry in mending the state of strategic road segments which are related to fuel distribution and for the enforcement of regulations on truck dead weight.