Mele Kyari: Diamonds For A Turnaround Expert @60

By

Tayo Williams

It beggars no surprise that Nigeria, literally, has stood still to celebrate Mele Kolo Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, who turned 60 Wednesday, 8 January. From President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to serving and former ministers and other prominent Nigerians, it has been a blizzard of well-wishes for the Almajiri boy who rose to the acme of the oil and gas industry as the chief executive officer of ‘Africa’s largest energy company.’
For expunging ‘fuel scarcity’ from Nigerians’ end-of-the-year lexicography, revitalizing and repositioning the NNPCL for efficiency and effectiveness, entrenching transparency in its operations, and making bold decisions for the collective good, Kyari deserves all the felicitations that have buffeted him. Also, for turning excellence, resilience, vision, patriotism, dynamism, and a boots-on-the-ground leadership style into an art form.
Despite the headwinds of international oil politics, home-grown challenges like insecurity, sabotage by industry players, crude oil theft with the attendant negative effect on the revenue accruable to the nation, and pipeline vandalism among others, the University of Maiduguri-trained geologist has waded through the odds with the courage of a knight and the confidence of a champion while working his way into the pantheon of Nigeria’s most prodigious citizens.
He has also helped in no small measures to restore hope in the Nigerian economy with his concatenation of ingenious and innovative interventions, which undergird the compassion and concern of the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the Nigerian people.
Though it is not yet Uhuru, the NNPCL is no longer what it used to be. Kyari’s tenacious spirit and mulish resolve to excel where others have failed over the past three decades have paid off with many robust milestones but two are most significant for every Nigerian; the declaration of N3.3trillion profit for the first time in its 46 years history and the rejuvenation of the old Port Harcourt Refinery last November and the Warri Refinery in December.
In November, the NNPCL announced the “safe and successful restart of the 60,000 barrels-per-day Old Port Harcourt Refinery,” which it stated marks a significant step forward after years of operational challenges and underperformance and also “signifies a new era of energy independence and economic growth for our nation.”
Though naysayers went to town disclaiming the news, saying the corporation was lying about the refinery working, community leaders, labour unions, civil society organisations, and stakeholders including former Group Managing Directors of the legacy NNPC have visited the refineries and praised Kyari for bringing them back to life.
Even former Labour Party presidential candidate, Dr Peter Obi, commended the Kyari-led NNPCL for “fulfilling the long-standing promise of revamping the old Port Harcourt refinery… Nigerians now await the corresponding impact and benefits on pump prices and the overall economy.”
On 30 December, the NNPCL announced that the 150,000 bpd Warri Refinery, shut down in 2015 due to protracted but unsuccessful repairs, had been re-streamed. An excited President Tinubu lauded Kyari and his team at NNPCL for working hard to restore national pride and making Nigeria a hub for crude oil refining in Africa. He said, “With the Warri Refinery now operating at 60% capacity, my administration’s comprehensive plan to ensure energy efficiency and security is entirely on course.”
Nigeria aims to be a net exporter of petroleum, and Kyari is leading the charge. He has, thus, beamed his searchlight on dormant frontier basins like the Kolmani Oil Field II & III straddling Bauchi and Gombe States to monetise the huge oil and gas resources therein. The Kolmani Oil Field, OPL 809 and 810, in the Gongola Basin of the Upper Benue trough, is estimated to have a reserve of one billion barrels of crude oil. Concerted efforts have also been made to explore new basins including the Bida, Ogun, Anambra, and Sokoto Basins.
Importantly, the Kyari-led NNPCL is leveraging technology and innovation to achieve the goal of building an energy company of global excellence. Last December, the NNPCL unveiled its state-of-the-art Production Monitoring Command Centre (PMCC), a groundbreaking initiative aimed at revolutionizing hydrocarbon production monitoring and boosting operational efficiency across the oil and gas sector.
According to NNPC Ltd, the PMCC is designed to provide a centralized, real-time view of hydrocarbon production and transportation activities while ensuring the seamless integration of data and processes. By leveraging advanced analytics and predictive technologies, the PMCC addresses critical industry challenges and enhances stakeholders’ decision-making capabilities.
Before the PMCC, however, the NNPCL had established a control centre known as the Central Coordination, Data Integration, and Activation Control Room to provide surveillance of all the country’s oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta. Similar to that of Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, the NNPC Data Control Centre uses video visibility to monitor the pipeline networks in the Niger Delta where more than 90 percent of the country’s crude is explored. Through the Data Control Centre, the NNPCL can see and monitor the movement of vessels on Nigeria’s territorial waters in real-time.
These measures had to be put in place because of the GCEO’s belief that the NNPCL can reach three or four million barrels per day but that some steps must be taken. He said, “Number one is to resolve security, which is very critical so that you can get back the confidence of investors. We have achieved that substantially, but there are still places that are supposed to be occupied; and that’s what we are working on to see that we can eliminate the security challenges we have, particularly in the Niger Delta region.”
Before transitioning into a limited liability company, the NNPC was infamous for its opacity. However, that changed under Kyari who introduced new standards for corporate governance by making the financial statements accessible to the public thus fostering trust and confidence among stakeholders, including the public, investors, and international partners.
The publication of the Monthly Financial and Operations Reports (MFOR), according to Kyari, underscores the corporation’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and open dialogue, which are fundamental to building public trust. This practice, the GCEO said, “places NNPCL in a unique position globally as the only national oil company that publishes its financial and operations reports every month. Such transparency not only enhances accountability but also provides valuable insights into NNPCL’s activities, performance, and strategic direction.”
Further, Kyari enlisted the NNPCL with the global transparency body, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a Norway-based organisation that seeks to establish international standards for the good governance of oil, gas, and mineral resources while addressing the key governance issues in the extractive sectors. In its recent global assessment of the NNPCL, the EITI scored the corporation high for enhanced transparency and accountability standards, increased competitiveness, and concerted efforts in combating corruption in the global oil, gas, and mining sectors.
Perhaps one of the more remarkable contributions of the Kyari-led NNPCL to cushioning the impact of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians is taking the lead in the implementation of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiatives launched by President Tinubu to stimulate the economy, reduce carbon footprints, and provide cheaper alternative fuel to motorists. So far, the NNPCL has deployed many gas stations across Lagos and Abuja while one of its subsidiaries, NNPC Gas Marketing Limited, has partnered with NIPCO Gas Limited to develop an Auto-CNG rollout plan for the construction of 35 CNG stations across Nigeria.
Similarly, the NNPCL has made significant strides in the nation’s energy mix by signing the NLNG Train 7 project, which is expected to deliver over $20bn in revenue to the government and create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. The corporation has also entered into a turnkey Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to construct the Gwagwalada Independent Power Plant project, which has been described as a game-changer in Nigeria’s power sector.
The 1,350MW Combined Cycle Power Plant with auxiliaries and Balance of Plant located on 547 hectares of land in Gwagwalada, Abuja, is expected to generate between $700m and $800m annually within the first 10 years of operations. The project consists of three power train blocks of 450MW each. Each block will include two General Electric (GE) gas turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), one steam turbine electric generator, one direct air-cooling condenser, a balance of plant equipment, and a black start diesel generator. Gas supply to the plant will be through the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project currently in an advanced stage of construction.
These interventions, among many others, have not come without fierce pushback from the beneficiaries of the rot in the industry, but the Borno State native is no shrinking violet. He came well-acquitted to exorcise the demons in the system and so far, he is winning.
Hence, as Kyari turns 60, there is no doubt that he has etched his name in diamonds in the annals of Nigeria for the initiatives that have helped to stamp out fuel queues across Nigeria, increase crude oil production, and guarantee energy security, among other things. However, industry experts say Kyari’s work is not yet done and that a factor such as the primitive civil service retirement age should not be a cog in the progress made so far.

*Tayo Williams, a Lagos-based media executive, sent in this article.