New GMD of NNPC, Mele Kolo Kyari
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, has maintained that determination of fuel prices would continue to be a decision by the federal government despite the firm’s transitioning to a commercial entity. But unlike his counterpart in Brazil state-run Petrobras oil company, Jose Mauro Coelho, who resigned from his post as CEO last month over President Jair Bolsonaro’s interference in the company’s fuel pricing policy, Kyari said that the exercise would henceforth be performed for a fee for the Nigerian government. Coelho was forced to step down from his role just days after Petrobras announced that it would increase petrol and diesel prices and Bolsonaro who is seeking re-election in October described the move as one that, “could sink Brazil into chaos.” President Muhammadu Buhari also holds the same view. Coelho would be the third Petrobras CEO to have come and gone since Bolsonaro took office in early 2019, with the disagreements earlier leading to the ouster of former CEOs Roberto Castello Branco and Joaquim Silva e Luna. Speaking during a prerecorded interview with Channels Television, yesterday, Kyari stated that whereas before now the NNPC’s function of being the sole importer may not have been on a commercial basis, it would henceforth charge a fee for the service.
