PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has appointed Chief Pius Akinyelure, as the Chairman of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, this newspaper can authoritatively report.
This is just as the President also retained Malam Mele Kyari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited.
Before his appointment as Chairman, Akinyelure was a member of the board of the NNPC Limited.
Akinyelure, a seasoned and distinguished administrator, and an oil industry practitioner is being appointed to Chair the NNPC Limited Board about five months after the President dissolved the board of federal government’s agencies and parastatsals including that of the NNPC Limited.
Before the President’s dissolution of board of federal government parastatals on June 19 this year, the board of the NNPC Limited was chaired by Mrs Margary Okadigbo who was appointed on January 5, 2022 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
She occupied the position for 17 months before the dissolution of the board by President Tinubu.
Findings by this newspaper revealed that she is being replaced by Chief Akinyelure who is a certified Accountant with a Master of Science Degree in Management, specializing in organizational behaviour.
Chief Akinyelure also had over 30 years working experience in the Oil industry at top management/executive levels, both Upstream and Downstream.
Prior to his retirement from Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc on June 1, 1997, he was the Executive Director, Finance and External Relations for the company.
He has been Chairman/Director of several companies/financial institutions in the past, which include Wema Bank Plc, Credite Bank Ltd, Odu’a Investment Limited, Oluwa Glass Plc, Okitipupa Oil Palm Plc, Odu’a Telecomunications Limited, Cocoa Industries Nigeria Ltd, Hallmark Bank and West African Portland Cement Plc.
He is also Chairman/Director in several other companies like King Guards Nigeria Ltd, Seg Mahsen & Co.(NIG) LTD, POA Investment Ltd, Eres N.V Nig. Ltd, Transnational Computer Technology, SPA dredging Company Limited, Pak Oil Marketing Limited, ACOP Properties Limited, Betta Consortium (Ikoyi Hotels) and CAT Construction Company Limited.
This newspaper understands that Kyari’s retention as NNPC Limited GCEO is a confirmation of the confidence which the President has in the reforms and programmes being implemented under his leadership.
Kyari has kept his promise to the NNPC Limited and Nigeria by increasing the nation’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels, from 37 billion barrels.
The NNPC Boss has also assisted in resolving disputes around deep offshore bloc to further boost the nation’s oil production and ensuring the successful flag-off of the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project.
The project was described by former President Muhammadu Buhari as a game changer for the oil and gas industry.