As Baru exits without answer for refineries, can Kyari change the narrative?
First, he (outgoing GMD of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru) started in 2016, by telling Nigerians that his leadership will carry out Turnaround maintenance (TAM) that will jump the installed capacities of all four refineries to highest limit.
By the time he was not able to defend his humongous $1.8bn budget at the House of Representatives having wasted $2bn for the same purpose before, he was asked to leave for want of evidence of good results for the money if approved by the lawmakers.
Immediately, he lost favour in the sight of lawmakers, he joined forces with the former Minister of State, Dr Ibe Kachukwu to lure some foreign investors to come in as contractor-financiers. This also failed as after some time, the foreign lost confidence in the whole process and walked away, thus leaving the NNPC with no other option than to think locally with some local banks.
The refineries, located in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri, have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but have continued to operate far below the installed capacity for many years.
During his very last official comment last week before the naming of Mele Kolo Kyari as his replacement, Baru revealed that some local banks have expressed their readiness to fund the rehabilitation of the same refineries.
Remember that NNPC under his management had informed Nigerians in February this year that that the Corporation had to resort to immediate direct funding from internal cash flows and debt financing from the financial markets for the project.
Speaking in Lagos during his last minute induction as a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering at the institution’s 2019 annual lecture, Baru accepted failure, noting that “We took some steps in 2016 when we came in,” but other international drives for rehabilitation of the refineries failed after negotiations.
The question now is with the coming in of Kyari, who had been a quintessential crude oil marketer with prerequisite certification and outfield pedigree in petroleum economics.
He also has enormous crude oil and gas trading, traversing several sections of the Corporation in the past 27 years.
Analysts are however divided on the capability of Kyari, who now becomes the 19th GMD of NNPC to deliver revival of the four refineries to installed capacities with his new set of firebrand Chief Operating Officers (COOs).
The seven COOs to work with Kyari at NNPC are as follows:
Mr. Roland Onoriode Ewubare (South-South) – Chief Operating Officer, Upstream;
Mustapha Yinusa Yakubu (North Central) – Chief Operating Officer Refining and Petrochemicals;
Yusuf Usman (North East) – Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power;
Lawrencia Nwadiabuwa Ndupu (South East), Chief Operating Officer Ventures;
Umar Isa Ajiya (North West) – Chief Financial Officer
Adeyemi Adetunji (South West) – Chief Operating Officer, Downstream
Farouk Garba Said (North West) – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services.
