Buhari appoints new GMD for NNPC; 7 new Chief Operating Officers

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Mr. Mele Kolo Kyari as the new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

A release Thursday morning in Abuja by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated that President Buhari also appointed alongside Kyari, seven new Chief Operating Officers.

Until his new appointment, Kyari, a geologist, was Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of NNPC and also doubled, since 13th May, 2018, as Nigeria’s National Representative to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.

Buhari has directed that the New GMD and the newly appointed Chief Operating Officers work with the current occupiers of the various offices till 7th July, 2019 towards a smooth transition on 8th July 2019 when their appointments would take effect to ensure a smooth transition.

However, the appointment of Mr. Farouk Garba Said (North West), who is replacing a retiring Chief Operating Officer, is effective from 28th June, 2019.

Ughamadu stated in the release that NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had congratulated the new appointees.

Mallam Kyari is a quintessential crude oil marketer with prerequisite certification and outfield pedigree in Petroleum Economics and crude oil and gas trading.

In the last 27 years he had traversed the entire value chain of the Petroleum Industry, with exceptional records of performance.

Under his watch, the Crude Oil Marketing Division has recorded noticeable transformation in the management and sales of the various Nigeria’s crude oil grades via an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes, the release by the NNPC spokesperson, stated.

Kyari would be the 19th Group Managing Director of the National Oil Company.

The newly appointed Chief Operating Officers are:

1. Mr. Roland Onoriode Ewubare (South-South) – Chief Operating Officer, Upstream

2. Engr. Mustapha Yinusa Yakubu (North Central) – Chief Operating Officer Refining and Petrochemicals

3. Engr. Yusuf Usman (North East) – Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power

4. Ms. Lawrencia Nwadiabuwa Ndupu (South East), Chief Operating Officer Ventures

5. Mr. Umar Isa Ajiya (North West) – Chief Financial Officer

6. Engr. Adeyemi Adetunji (South West) – Chief Operating Officer, Downstream and

7. Mr. Farouk Garba Said (North West) – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services.

Mr. Kyari comes to the job as the 19th GMD of the NNPC with a rich profile of professional and service credentials.
A geologist, with over 32 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Mr. Kyari’s tour of duty traversed the entire value chain of the petroleum industry.

“Under his watch, the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC has recorded noticeable transformation in the management and sales of the various Nigeria’s crude oil grades via an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes,” the NNPC said of him in his official profile on its website.

A 1987 Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree holder in Geology and Earth Science from the University of Maiduguri, Mr. Kyari did his National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), as a Well Site Geologist with the Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) between 1987 and 1988.
Between 1988 and 1991, he worked with the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency before joining the NNPC subsidiary, Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), where he worked as a Seismic Data Processing Geophysicist in the Data Processing Department.

In 1998, Mr. Kyari was appointed the Exploration Geophysicist Production Sharing Contract (PSC) of the National Petroleum Investments Management Services (NAPIMS) until 2004 when he became the Abuja Operations Manager of NAPIMS.

In 2006, he was appointed the Supervisor PSC, Crude Oil Marketing Department (COMD) of the NNPC, from where he rose to the position of Head, and later Manager of Production Contracts Management of the COMD between 2007 and 2014.

Mr. Kyari was appointed General Manager Oil Stock Management, COMD where he worked till 2015 before being appointed Group General Manager, COMD and later Nigeria’s National Representative at OPEC.

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