By Adewole Kehinde
“The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence because it’s so rare,” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
President Bola Tinubu would never sacrifice Kyari’s capacity on the altar of any sentiment by replacing the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd. in the impending company’s reformation.
I said this after reading a publication by an online news medium titled “EXCLUSIVE: In Desperate Bid To Remain In Office, Mele Kyari Fast-Tracks IPO For NNPC.” I can beat my chest to say that Mele Kyari is not desperate to remain in office.
Kyari had the requisite professional skill, acumen, experience, and track records of innovation, reformation, and achievements in the industry to deliver the expected result with credibility.
He is an expert, a technocrat, and a core professional who understands the dynamics of the industry, so his statement that crude oil production is now about 1.6 million barrels per day is not bogus and unrealistic as claimed in the publication.
I don’t know why a media outfit will twist a very clear statement of the GCEO. Kyari said, and I quote, ‘May I also use this opportunity to say that I was just checking the data for Wednesday? The actual data for crude oil and condensate production is at 1.67 million barrels per day!’ My primary focus is…. AND CONDENSATE PRODUCTION.
In the said publication, the paper quoted an unnamed investment banker as saying, ‘No market professional would support an NNPC public offering absent a solid due diligence exercise and a total clean-up of the corporation’s account.” It is on record that the NNPC Limited account was audited and is open to the general public’s scrutiny.
The online newspaper should know that the NNPC is now a competitor, and it might interest the said paper to know that NNPC Limited has secured the consent of President Bola Tinubu to proceed with offering its shares to the public.
It may also interest the online newspaper that Kyari has not decided to fast-track an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in a desperate bid to remain in office. The company has proposed a roadshow. It is known the world over that a roadshow is a sales pitch or promotion made by the underwriting firm and a company’s management team to potential investors before going public.
The Roadshow will provide an opportunity for new asset awardees and upstream industry players to network, exchange ideas, and chart strategic pathways for the innovative financing structure of NNPC Limited.
The roadshow will also help investors see the vast opportunities available in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
President Bola believes in professionalism and competency. He paved the way and walked it tenaciously in Lagos by appointing professionals and capable hands to critical posts, therefore I see him keeping Mele Kyari.
Those agitating for his removal should know that Kyari is a technocrat and guru who has been performing creditably and meritoriously in the nation’s energy sector with good track records, particularly with his efforts in making the Petroleum Industry Act a reality.
I do not doubt that President Bola Tinubu will retain Kyari, considering his crucial role in the realization of the fuel subsidy removal vision.
For Tinubu to get results from the NNPC Limited, it will take somebody like Kyari who has been in the terrain with the requisite experience and skills to achieve such a result.
Kyari is a strong stakeholder and initiator of ideas, innovations, and strategies that resulted in the transformation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited.
Finally, President Bola Tinubu must keep technocrats and think tanks who were in critical positions before he came on board and not dismiss them in the name of reform.
Adewole Kehinde is a public affairs analyst and can be reached via 08166240846, kennyadewole@gmail.com
