A Niger Delta youths group, the Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Progress and Peace, (NDYCPP) says it plans to honour the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Mele Kyari, for creating opportunities, and displaying transparency and probity in the corporation.
The NDYCPP noted that before Kyari assumed office as the GMD of NNPC there were a lot of unresolved lingering issues that tended to hamper the oil sector from achieving its full potentials.
They said that upon his coming on board, Kyari had convinced stakeholders and industry watchers of the new direction of the NNPC, by transparently opening its financial books to public scrutiny, thereby changing the opacity that had characterised the system.
The group’s National President, Tiedo Olayinka, made these assertions in a statement issued in Yenagoa, on Sunday.
He said that the NDYCPP planned to honour the GMD at its forthcoming Niger Delta Youth Entrepreneur on Oil and Gas Summit billed for December, in Port Harcourt..
According to the group, the summit was aimed at preparing entrepreneurs and youths from the Niger Delta region to harness opportunities provided by the policies of the NNPC under the current GMD.
The group cited Kyari as a visionary and professional manager with a towering repertoire of the inner workings of the industry, having served in various positions over the years.
The experience, they noted, made him the right man to head the NNPC, and that he had effectively brought his wealth of experience to bear, by efficiently repositioning the NNPC.
“The NNPC has transformed from opacity to Transparency, Accountability, Performance and Excellence (TAPE).
“Before his assumption of office as the GMD of the NNPC; there were a lot of unresolved and knotty issues lingering and hampering the sector from achieving its potentials.
” From the lingering Petroleum Industry Bill, which is now the Petroleum Industry Act, constitution of the board to superintend over one of its break-up units.
“The OML 25 impasse at Kula in Akuku-toru LGA of Rivers State between Belema Oil, the Community and Shell SPDC, which has been now resolved amicably and operational activities resumed in earnest.
“NNPC’s financial books have never been opened transparently for public scrutiny over the years but the coming on board of Kyari has changed all of that opacity in the system.
“Not quite long when Mele Kyari assumed office, the stifling COVID-19 pandemic hit the world economy which adversely affected the petroleum industry real hard, the fall in the price of crude oil sharply in the International market which affected our revenue earnings drastically, but with resilience and careful handling of affairs we were able to come out stronger.
“The investment issues surrounding train 7 of NNLG in Bonny, Rivers State, about the concerns of the partners which has also been tactful resolved and operations are going on smoothly.” The group said in the statement.
Olayinka maintained that industry watchers and stakeholders in the sector can attest to the fact that Kyari had surpassed all his predecessors since this democratic dispensation began in 1999 to date.
“Therefore, Niger Delta youth leaders have concluded plans to confer on Mele Kyari an Award of Excellence in Public Probity as the GMD of NNPC in our forthcoming Niger Delta Youth Entrepreneur on Oil and Gas Summit sometime in December this year in Port Harcourt ” the group stated.
The statement commended President Muhammadu Buhari, for appointing an outstanding and astute industry technocrat as the GMD of the NNPC in the person of Kyari.
The group enjoined Kyari to sustain his good works, as posterity will surely hold him in high esteem as his record of service delivery will certainly be a golden reference point in the annals of the Petroleum industry
