Ex-NNPC GMDs Meet Kyari, Want End to Oil Theft in N’Delta

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Former chief executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited yesterday met with the Group Chief Executive Officer of the national oil company, Mele Kyari, and called on the federal government to halt the massive oil theft going on in the country.

A communique issued at the conclusion of the meeting of the former NNPC Group Managing Directors (GMDs) at the CEO Forum in Abuja, quoted the ex-GMDs as calling on the authorities to punish those whose activities continue to hinder oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria.
The document released by the NNPC was signed by Dr Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, Chief Chamberlain Oyibo, Funsho Kupolokun, Abubakar Yar’adua, Austen Oniwon and Andrew Yakubu, while the resource person was Abiye Membere, a former Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production (E&P) of the NNPC.

“We empathise with the management team over the state of onshore operations with over 7,000 illegal refineries destroyed and over 5,000 illegal connections removed.

“We reiterate that any attack on crude oil and gas facilities as well as illegal refining are acts of criminality and economic sabotage. Therefore, all activities hindering oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria must be sanctioned,” the group said.

The former CEOs further acknowledged that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had made provisions for the host communities’ development and also provided for sustainable funding and therefore asked that vandals and economic saboteurs should be stopped.
“We trust that government security agencies will do the needful and ensure that crude oil theft, illegal refining and activities of pipeline vandals are stopped to allow for investment and growth of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector,” they said.

The group further expressed solidarity with the current leadership of the NNPC and what it said was the commendable efforts in advancing the company’s strategic objectives across key sectors.
The forum said the meeting provided insights on NNPC’s transition post-PIA as well as the challenges and opportunities, explaining that members obtained insights into NNPC’s business activities in the context of global energy industry dynamics, strategic aspirations and operational updates.

“We also acknowledge with satisfaction the significant progress made in increasing crude oil and gas production, funding of upstream operations and investments, gas supply and infrastructure development for domestic and export, including Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) delivery.
“These also include refineries rehabilitation progress and reduction in carbon emissions and commercialisation of Nigeria’s vast gas resources,” the former NNPC chiefs stated.

They encouraged the management team to continue advancing strategies to improve operations, grow portfolio, and manage talent.
They also lauded the continuation of the policy on recruitment, which they said took into consideration the principles of diversity and inclusion as well as performance-based career progression via a transparent process.

“We also noted that limited information is in the public domain on NNPC’s operations since transition to a private commercial entity. This has led to misleading commentary which we believe is not in tandem with the strides achieved by the company,” the group added.