Will Baru’s Appointment as NNPC GMD Resolve the N’Delta Crisis?

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Ejiofor Alike in Abuja with agency report

After months of pressure mounted by northern interests led by Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru, a former Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to be made the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the state-run oil firm, President Muhammadu Buhari finally succumbed monday when he removed Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the corporation’s executive head.

However, Baru’s appointment has raised questions as to whether he can lead negotiations to calm restive militants in the Niger Delta, who have renewed hostilities in the oil-rich region in a wave of attacks on oil industry installations.

Kachikwu, who for eight months had doubled as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and will now serve as the Chairman of the NNPC board, had led a federal government team last month to negotiate a peace deal with the militants.

However, his removal at a most sensitive time, could raise concerns among stakeholders in the region that the administration has remained adamantly unresponsive to the accusations by the militants that some of the local oil firms exploiting the hydrocarbon resources in their backyards and polluting the environment belong to non-indigenes of the oil producing communities.

Their fears may be further heightened by the composition of the nine-man board announced by the presidency yesterday comprising six members of northern extraction and one person each to represent the South-west, South-east and South-south geopolitical zones.

A statement yesterday by the presidency said Buhari had approved the composition of the board of NNPC, as provided under Section 1(2) of the NNPC Act of 1997, as amended.

It said the new board is composed of the following: Chairman – Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum; Group Managing Director – Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru; Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Mahmoud Isa Dutse; the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari; a former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Thomas M.A John; a former Executive Director of Mobil Oil Plc and foremost industrialist and boardroom guru, Dr. Pius O. Akinyelure; a former Chairman/CEO of the Nigeria-Sao Tome & Principe Joint Development Authority (JDA), Dr. Tajuddeen Umar; Mallam Mohammed Lawal; and Mallam Yusuf Lawal.

A statement by the president’s media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Buhari urged the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of NNPC and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on it in “managing this critical national asset”.

Baru, from Bauchi State, was born in 1959 and had served as a director with NNPC subsidiary Carlson before being appointed the Group General Manager (GGM) of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS). He was appointed GED, E&P in August last year, but was removed during the restructuring of NNPC into new business units.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Since Kachikwu’s appointment as the Minister of State for Petroleum, following the agreement the latter had reached with Buhari when he appointed him GMD of the corporation last year, Baru had never hidden his desire to replace Kachikwu as the head of NNPC.

Industry sources had informed THISDAY early this year that Baru had made several overtures to the presidency seeking Kachikwu’s removal.

A few months ago, reports went viral on the social media on Kachikwu’s ouster and Baru as his replacement, but they turned out to be false.

In another development, Brent crude traded near $50 a barrel as Nigerian militants – the Niger Delta Avengers – carried out further attacks on oil production sites, threatening to deepen the country’s biggest output losses in 

decades.