Mele Kyari: 12 Things to know about NNPC GMD

President Muhammadu Buhari has just appointed Mele Kolo Kyari as the new Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

By this appointment, Kyari has become the 19th GMD of the state-run oil company.

Kyari would succeed Maikanti Baru who would retire on July 8, 2019.

1..Before his appointment, Kyari was the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) of the NNPC.

2..No, Mele Kyari is no blood relation of President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.

Mele Kyari is of the Kanuri tribe while Abba Kyari is of the Shuwa tribe.

3..The new NNPC GMD was born on January 8, 1965, in Maiduguri, Borno state.

4..He attended Government Community Secondary School, Biu between 1977 and 1982.

Kyari graduated from the University of Maiduguri in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology.

He had his mandatory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) program with the Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) between 1987 and 1988 as a well site geologist.

5..Kyari has a history in unionism and activism. He is popularly referred to as ‘Grand Chairman’ by colleagues, friends and admirers alike because he was once Group Chairman of NNPC PENGASSAN (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria).

6..Kyari joined the NNPC in 1991 as a processing geophysicist with Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL). In 1998, he was deployed to National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and worked as an exploration geophysicist.

7..He’s been with the NNPC in different capacities.

8..In 1998, Mr Kyari was appointed the Exploration Geophysicist, Production Sharing Contract (PSC) of the National Petroleum Investments Management Services (NAPIMS) until 2004 when he became the Abuja Operations Manager of NAPIMS.

In 2006, he got the job of the Supervisor PSC, Crude Oil Marketing Department (COMD) of the NNPC, from where he rose to the position of Head, and later Manager of Production Contracts Management of the COMD between 2007 and 2014.

9..Mr Kyari was appointed General Manager Oil Stock Management, COMD where he worked till 2015 before being appointed Group General Manager, COMD and later Nigeria’s National Representative at OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

10..Kyari was one of those who came up with the NNPC’s commodity trading initiative. The initiative was put together to usher in an era of transparency and accountability in NNPC operations.

This initiative helps government to know who is buying Nigeria’s crude, at what prices, and how much has been made from the sale overall.

11..Kyari also led the team that proposed and managed the Direct Sales and Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement of petroleum products from 2016 to the present day.

The DSDP replaces the controversial crude swap arrangement that was allegedly abused by former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke and her cronies during the Goodluck Jonathan era.

12..TheCable refers to Kyari as a ‘peacemaker’ because “he helped resolve disputes with International Oil Companies (IOCs) arising from the various interpretation issues with the PSCs. He was a member of the team that carried out a review of the 1993 PSC process.

“He was a member of the team that reconciled the alleged loss of $48 billion and established the actual status of transactions involving NNPC in 2014”.