Buhari sacks Baru, appoints Kyari as NNPC GMD

President Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, removed the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, and appointed Mr. Mele Kolo Kyari in his stead.

The president also approved the appointment of seven new Chief Operating Officers to work with the new GMD.

The new Chief Operating Officers are: 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; and Lawrencia Nwadiabuwa Ndupu (South East), Chief Operating Officer Ventures.

Others include: Umar Isa Ajiya (North West) – Chief Financial Officer; Adeyemi Adetunji (South West) – Chief Operating Officer, Downstream; and Farouk Garba Said (North West) – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services.

All the appointments take effect from July 8, 2019.

However, the appointment of Mr. Farouk Garba Said (North West) takes effect from June 28, 2019 as he is replacing a retiring Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to the shock announcement of Baru’s ouster, Thursday morning, by NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, Kyari, the new GMD, had been the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of NNPC, a position he held alongside being Nigeria’s National Representative to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and also doubled, since May 13, 2018.

Thursday’s appointment of Kyari, a geologist, effectively ends Baru’s tenure as the 18^th GMD of the NNPC. .

But the outgoing GMD has till July 7, 2019, to clear his desk as President Buhari directed that the new GMD and the newly appointed Chief Operating Officers work with the current occupiers of the various offices till July 7, 2019 towards a smooth transition on July 8, 2019, when their appointments would take effect.

Ughamadu, in the statement, disclosed that Baru had congratulated the new appointees, wishing them the very best on their new beats.

The statement described Kyari as a quintessential crude oil marketer with prerequisite certification and outfield pedigree in petroleum economics and crude oil and gas trading.

It recalled that the new NNPC boss had, in the last 27 years, traversed the entire value chain of the petroleum industry, with exceptional records of performance.

The corporation, in the statement, further recalled that under Kyari’s watch, the Crude Oil Marketing Division recorded significant transformation in the management and sales of various Nigeria’s crude oil grades via an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes.