A non-governmental organisation, Niger Delta Frontiers (NDF) has praised President Muhammadu Buhari for picking the current Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, as one of his ministerial nominees, saying such appointment is a good omen for the petroleum industry.
A statement by the group’s Chairman, Austin Egbema, in Abuja yesterday, said the President’s choice of Kachikwu will develop the industry, saying that the sector has never had it so good.
“Before now, the petroleum industry was in a mess fraught with sharp practices. But now sanity has been restored in the sector since the inception of this administration.
“Therefore if a thoroughbred professional like Mr. Ibe Kachikwu is appointed minister of state for petroleum resources, then better times are here for Nigerians. And we believe the President will certainly put a square peg in a square hole,” Egbama said.
NDF added that the NNPC GMD has the requisite capacity and experience to provide the needed services under President Buhari’s watch in order to return Nigeria to the old glorious days.
“Having Mr. Kachikwu doubling as the GMD of the NNPC and reporting to the president as Minister of State for petroleum will go a long way in eliminating the incessant crisis that characterized the NNPC during the last regime where we had about five GMDs in as many years,” he added.
Meanwhile, oil and gas industry analysts have expressed strong support for the inclusion of the current GMD of the nation’s strategic parastatal, the NNPC, in the ministerial nominees’ list of President Buhari.
Stakeholders in the industry, who spoke with our correspondent, say that although the President was yet to unfold his plan for the reform of the NNPC, the inclusion of Kachikwu in his choice of ministers is suggestive of the possibility that Dr. Kachikwu will most likely be posted to the ministry of petroleum resources as minister of state.
President Buhari, fielding questions from journalists on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York last week, had said that he will head the petroleum ministry because of the importance he attaches to the reform and the sensitivity of the oil and gas industry to the nation’s economic revival.
R Dr. Kachikwu assumed duty as the Chief Executive of the NNPC at a brief handover ceremony held at the NNPC Towers in Abuja about a month ago.
Until his appointment, he was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon Mobil (Africa).
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