Minister Complains To Buhari Over Mismanagement By GMD NNPC

Unic Press UK: A petition [‘matters of insubordination and lack of adherence to due process perpetuated by the GMD NNPC – Dr Baru’] dated 30th August 2017, which was written by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the immediate past Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu, is in public domain after being leaked by yet to be identified person(s).

Maikanti Baru

In his letter to Buhari, the Minister of Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu, who doubles as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NNPC, expressed reservations/concerns over the manner in which the Group Managing Director (GMD) Maikanti Baru was running the affairs of the NNPC. The petitioner lamented being denied access to the President despite many attempts to make an appointment; “I have been unable to secure an appointment to see you despite very many attempts”, he wrote.

The minister Kachikwu accused the GMD of NNPC Baru of:

• Total disrespect to the NNPC Board: Kachikwu cited widespread personnel changes – appointment and postings – without recourse to the NNPC Board. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced in August 2017 a major re-organisation/transfers involving 55 top executives.

 “… these executive actions by NNPC were supposed to benefit from mine and the Board’s input prior to presentation to you… previous attempts to rush through these appointments through a non-governance backdoor and present same to the Acting President were met with a request that this be discussed with me. This was never done,” Kachikwu wrote in the letter to Buhari.

• Flouting due process in contract awards: Due process, legal/procedural requirements that all contracts above $20 million be reviewed and approved by the Board of the NNPC has never been adhered to since Baru was appointed GMD NNPC, Kachikwu said. The letter listed several contracts awarded by Baru-led NNPC in disregard to legal requirements: Crude Term Contract valued at over $10 billion, Direct Sale of Crude Oil and Direct Purchase of Product (DSDP) Contract worth more than $5 billion, Ajaokuta-Kaduna Kano (AKK) Pipeline Contract with a value that is in excess of $3 billion, various financing allocation funding contracts worth more that $3 billion, various production service contracts in excess of $3 billion, inter alia.

“I know that this bravado management style runs contrary to the cleansing operations you engaged me to carry out at the inception of your administration”, Kachikwu said.

Kachikwu prayed that President Buhari intervenes by instructing Baru to adhere to best practices in running the affairs of the NNPC in line with formal operational procedures, including abiding by the corporation’s reporting structure.

About NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is Nigeria’s state oil corporation, which was established on April 1, 1977.