Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, has accused Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, of insubordination, and called for the cancellation of the recent appointments in the NNPC.
In a letter written by Kachikwu to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of State said for over one year, he had tolerated the disrespectful and humiliating conducts of the Group Managing Director on his office, and has decided to bring the issue to the attention of the President.
He said: “Mr. President, yesterday, like many other Nigerians, l resumed work confronted by many publications of massive changes within NNPC.
“Like the previous reorganisations and repostings done since Dr. Baru resumed as GMD, I was never given the opportunity before the announcements to discuss these appointments. This is so despite being Minister of State, Petroleum, and Chairman, NNPC Board.
“The Board of NNPC, which you appointed and, which has met every month since its inauguration and, which by the statutes of NNPC is meant to review these planned appointments and postings, was never briefed.
“Members at the Board learned of these appointments from the social media and the press release of NNPC.” The letter dated August 30, 2017 and entitled,
“Re: Matters of insubordination and lack of adherence to due process perpetuated by the GMD NNPC, Dr. Baru,” was signed by Kachikwu. We’re not aware of any letter —NNPC Contacted last night, Group General Manager, Public Affairs of NNPC, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, said they were not aware of the letter.
He, however, said they would react when they see the letter. In the letter, Kachikwu said he had been in a race to stabilise and move the petroleum industry to the next phase, noting that timing was critical.
He argued that the sector was also in a critical state where only innovative ideas could stop the alarming impact of the fall of oil prices on the national income, adding that the innovations that he and his team had developed and started implementing in the downstream, upstream, policy generation, and Niger Delta security had enabled the sector to stabilise slightly.
He said: “However, truth is that given global challenge in this sector, we must aggressively pursue out-of-the-box ideas on rejuvenating this sector, getting the best yield and increasing our earnings from oil and gas.
“What this means is that parastatals in the Ministry and all CEOS of these parastatals must be aligned with the policy drive of the supervising Ministry to allow the sector register the growth that has eluded it for many years.
‘’To do otherwise or to exempt any of the Parastatals would be to emplace a stunted growth for the industry.”
Kachikwu urges Buhari to save NNPC To this end, Kachikwu appealed to President Buhari to move in and save the NNPC and the oil industry from collapse arising from the non-transparent practices in the NNPC, and empower the corporation to take the needed actions when needed.
His other prayers to Buhari include: “That you save the office of the Minister of State from further humiliation and disrespect by compelling all parastatals to submit to oversight regulatory mandate and proper supervision which I am supposed to manage on your behalf.
“You kindly instruct the GMD to effectively leave NNPC to run as a proper institution and report along due process lines to the Board and that Your Excellency instructs that all reviews be done with the Minister of State prior to your decision.
“That to set the right examples, you approve that the recently announced reorganisation changes be suspended until the GMD, myself and the board have made relevant input to same.
This will send a clear signal of process and transparency. “That Your Excellency encourages joint presentation meetings between heads of Parastatals and the Minister of State to you so as to encourage a culture of working together and Implant discipline in the hierarchy.”
Petroleum Resources ministry confirms letter Authenticating the story last night, Ministry of Petroleum Resources in a statement signed by Director of Press, Idang Alibi, said: ‘’The attention of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has been drawn to a publication on a memo emanating from the HMSPR to the President.
‘’The communication under reference is a normal procedural correspondence by the Minister to the President relating to developments in parastatals under his supervision.
‘’It is most distressing to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources that a confidential communication to the President on the performance of one of its parastatals can be made public.
‘’The focus of the communication was on improving efficiency and deepening transparency in the oil and gas sector for continued investor confidence.
‘’It is noteworthy that the President has been fully supportive of the efforts of the Ministry to entrench good governance and accountability in the oil and gas sector.
‘’The Ministry of Petroleum Resources remains focused on achieving measurable progress in the implementation of the ongoing oil sector reforms in line with the mandate of the President.’’
