The new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, has vowed to reverse the trend of petroleum products importation in the country by rehabilitating the existing refineries and encouraging private sector investment in the refineries sub-sector.
The corporation spent over N1 trillion on fuel subsidy annually to ensure adequate supply following the malfunctioning of the NNPC refineries.
A press release by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said the new GMD made the pledge at a valedictory session for the former Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, where Mallam Kyari took over the reins of management as the 19th GMD of the corporation.
“We must end the trend of fuel importation as an oil producing country. We will deliver on the rehabilitation of the four refineries within the life of this administration and support the private sector to build refineries. We will support the Dangote refinery to come on stream on schedule. We will transform Nigeria into a net exporter of petroleum products by 2023”, Kyari stated in his address at the occasion.
He said the age-long Federal Government’s target of raising crude oil production and reserves to 3million barrels per day and 40billion barrels respectively was possible and that he would galvanise the corporation to achieve it by 2023.
On transparency and accountability, Kyari noted that the presence of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, at the event was a pointer to how much NNPC had changed over the past three years from the old image of a corruption-laden organization, stressing that he would continue to 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”, he said.
Speaking further on his commitment to entrench transparency in the operations of the corporation, Kyari said every Nigerian was a stakeholder in the corporation, which implied that everyone’ right to information on how NNPC is managed, adding: “NNPC will not be opaque, we’ll be transparent to all so that at the end of the day everyone will be in a position to assess us and say what we have done right or wrong”.
The GMD who barred members of his family from accepting gifts on his behalf said he would continue the automation of the petroleum products sale process so that marketers can buy products online.
“We will do this job with integrity, we’ll never put personal interest above that of the nation or the corporation”, the new GMD vowed, adding that he was conscious of the fact that he would ultimately be accountable to God on every of his actions.
He expressed gratitude to Dr. Baru for the role he played in his appointment, saying that the best way to honour him would be to perform so well and deliver on the job so that Baru could look back and say: “I did the right thing”.
