By Dr. Kabir Usman Kabo
Those calling for the removal of Mele Kyari from his role as the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited are behaving like football spectators who think that they know the game better than the professional players.
This is in the backdrop of the truth that many Nigerians see him as a patriot successfully running a sensitive industry in the face of countless challenges. Others respect and admire the depth of his knowledge of the global energy sector, which he unreservedly apply for the benefit of Nigerians.
Because of the sensitivity of the energy sector to the Nigerian economy and modern living, many people outside the sector suggest ways to improve its performance eventhough they do not know how complex it is; and have zero appreciation of its peculiar challenges, just like those watching football matches who think that they know better tactics of the game than Ronaldo, Pele and Finidi George combined.
Indeed Nigerians have every right to have a Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPC) Limited that ensures regular supply of products: diesel, liquified natural gas, petrol, low pour oil, aviation fuel and compressed natural gas, which are necessary in the social and economic well-being of the citizenry.
Luckily for Nigeria, Nigerians and our country’s energy sector, Mele Kyari, the top man at the NNPC Limited, is facing the challenges of the sector squarely and the Company he leads is delivering despite the formidable odds ranged against it.
Some of the well-known odds are massive crude oil theft by criminal gangs; the deliberate destruction of crude evacuation pipelines and flow stations; theft of refined products and endless disruptions of crude oil production by natural and human factors.
Under his leadership, the NNPC Limited initiated counter measures to those problems. Technology was introduced to detect any breach of the crude evacuation pipelines in real time. Security personnel swiftly move to the locations of duch breaches and apprehended the culprits.
It is worthy of note that Nigeria is probably the only major petroleum producing nation on earth the citizens of which tragically collaborate with foreign criminals to sabotage their own national assets.
Mele Kyari’s deep knowledge of the energy sector and his capacity for initiating projects that keeps it beneficial to Nigerians led to the ongoing process of harnessing the country’s gas endowment for the benefit of Nigerians and its neighbours.
The multi-billion Naira gas pipelines under construction will earn more foreign exchange for Nigeria; boost domestic utilisation of the commodity and contribute in the generation of electricity via the new thermal power plants under construction.
The NNPCL recently commissioned 12 Compressed Natural Gas filling stations in Lagos and Abuja, part of President Bola Tinubu’s drive to utilise green energy for transportation in the country.
The ongoing rehabilitation, turn-around or reconstruction of the oil refining plants in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna under the watch of Mele Kyari will doubtlessly drastically cut down or prevent unwelcome fuel scarcity in Nigeria in the future.
Supplying crude to the refineries being rehabilitated, the functioning and forthcoming modular refinnaries, including the gigantic Dangote Refinery, will be easier than previously thought. This is predicated on the production of more crude oil to meet both the domestic refiners’ needs and those of foreign buyers.
It is for that purpose and other national interests that Mele Kyari declared a State of Emergency aimed at upscaling crude oil production to more than two million barrels per day. He unfolded his strategy to that effect on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, at the opening of the 23rd Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in Abuja.
He said at the occassion in a reassuring way that, “We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation.”
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC Limited said some of the steps aimed at boosting crude production include the replacement of all old crude oil pipelines aged over four decades, a rig-sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years and removing procurement impidements to optimal use of deployed rigs.
Kabiru U. Kabo is former DG, CMD.
About The Author
