The Integrity Youth Alliance, a coalition of over 70 non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations across Nigeria, has called on the NNPC Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, to ignore the serially sponsored publications by Sahara Reporters and concentrate on transforming NNPC Limited into a viable commercial entity, capable of competing with other global energy giants like Saudi Aramco.
Reacting to the so-called exclusive by Sahara Reporters that “Amid Probe, Corruption Allegations, Nigeria’s Petroleum Company, NNPC CEO, Mele Kyari, and CFO, Ajiya Jet Off To Saudi Arabia To Lobby Buhari,” the National Coordinator of the Integrity Youth Alliance, Kelvin Adegbenga, said in a press release in Port Harcourt on Saturday, April 15, 2023, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, and Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya did not jet out to Saudi Arabia in a bid to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, as claimed by Sahara Reporters.
“We can authoritatively say that the duo, like other Nigerians, are in Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj (Umrah). This is not the first time they will be performing Umrah, Kelvin Adegbenga said.
He further said that Mal Mele Kyari has always had unrestricted access to President Buhari as the Minister of Petroleum in Nigeria, so the issue of ‘lobbying’ an appointment with President Buhari in Saudi Arabia is a figment of the imagination of Sahara Reporters.
It is on record that Mal Mele Kyari is well-known for transparency and accountability. He introduced the Transparency, Accountability, and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, a five-step strategic roadmap for the NNPC’s attainment of efficiency and global excellence.
The statement read, “It is on record that TAPE really turned around the corporation and made it competitive as a limited company now. And true to his words, the NNPC Limited GCEO has remained focused on its target, despite efforts by some of his detractors to derail his transformative agenda, as was seen in the recent allegation that $2.4 billion in stolen crude oil, an N20 billion Naira consultancy payment scam, a multi-billion Naira gratuity payment scam, and multiple petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
On the allegation that “NNPC staff members are demoralized and frustrated by the way Kyari and Ajiya are running the company,” Kelvin Adegbenga said his group can authoritatively say that Mele Kyari has kept the faith through the right stewardship. Many have attested to the fact that within three years of his stewardship at the former NNPC as the GMD, Mele Kyari reinvigorated hope of a better oil sector by leading the transformation of the NNPC Limited.
The statement read, “He led the company from a loss-making company to a profitable one in the year 2020, when, for the first time in its 44-year history, NNPC declared a profit after tax of N287 billion. This was scaled up to $1.674 trillion in profit after tax in 2021. He also led the successful resolution of protracted contractual disputes, including Various Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) disputes with International Oil Companies (IOCs) leading to a potential exit from national contingent liabilities over $9 billion; the OML 118 dispute with PSC partners and the renewal of the acreage, clearing the way for a $10 billion prospective investment for the development of the Bonga South-East Field; and the execution of Abo OML 125 Heads of Terms that resolved issues around most of the deep offshore Production Sharing Contracts, which also paved the way for the renewal of OML 125 and further investment to boost the nation’s crude oil production.
“The NNPC, under Kyari’s leadership, also secured the restoration of production activities in OML 25, whose shut-in due to a protracted dispute between Shell and Belema Oil was costing the country over 30,000 barrels per day in lost production volumes.
“Kyari and his team have, to reposition NNPC for global competitiveness, secured alternative project financing for several important projects, including a $5Billion corporate finance commitment from the Africa Export-Import Bank to fund major investments in Nigeria’s upstream sector; an alternative financing and technical services package worth N875.75 million for NPDC’s OML 65 to increase national production; and an alternative financing package worth $3.15bn with Sterling Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited (SEEPCO) and other partners for the development of NPDC’s OML 13.
“Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global investment, Mele Kyari, in December 2019, achieved the closeout of the final investment decision of the multi-billion-dollar NLNG Train 7 Project that has been on the drawing board for over a decade. Mele has successfully renegotiated the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline contract. The AKK Gas Pipeline is an integral part of the Trans-Nigeria Gas Pipeline (TNGP), with a capacity to transport about 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day. The contract was renegotiated from the initial $2.8billion to $2.5billion, achieving cost savings of $300million in favour of the Nigerian government. Construction work on the project was flagged off in June 2020.
Mele also led the signing of a $260 million financing agreement for the Assa-North Ohaji South (ANOH) Gas Project with Seplat to deliver 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and 1,200 megawatts of electricity to the domestic market.
“In April 2021, Mele Kyari led the successful execution of a Gas Development Agreement (GDA) for OML 143 with Sterling Oil Exploration and Production Company (SEEPCO), which will boost national gas production by 1.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF). Mele Kyari has a flair for execution excellence, as a result of which NNPC is making progress in the delivery of many game-changing projects, including the completion of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System II (ELPS II) and the Oben-Obiafu-Obrikom (OB3) gas pipeline to increase delivery capacity from 1.5BCF/D to over 3.5BCF/D; the commissioning of the Oredo Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF) and the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Storage and Dispensing Unit owned by NNPC E & P Limited (formerly NPDC) and the Oredo Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF; The facilities currently deliver over 200 million standard cubic feet of dry gas per day and 330 metric tons of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) into the domestic market among others.
“His determination to practice accountability goes far beyond transforming the NNPC into a profit-making venture, for the first time, after decades of operating perpetually at a loss, but his example becomes the signpost that whenever leaders, in corporate or political circles, choose to operate with a sense of responsibility and accountability to the good of the Nigerian people, things will change quickly for the better.”
“We make the bold statement that it takes the strong character and management expertise of a personality like Mele Kyari and Umar Ajiya to be able to oversee the most challenging period in Nigeria’s oil and gas history. With the tremendous demands occasioned by the global trends of moving towards alternative energy sources and the need to transform the NNPC into a viable commercial entity capable of competing with other global energy giants like Saudi Aramco, many Nigerians didn’t give Kyari and Ajiya the chance that he would successfully reposition the NNPC, especially in the wake of the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act, which required the outright transformation of the old NNPC within the space of just six months into a private and commercial entity free from government control and management, the statement concluded.
