Absence Of NNPCL GMD At Official Loading Of Petrol At Dangote Refinery – Matters Arising
Nigerians are a people who are easily distracted by looming and immediate issues, especially when it has to do with their daily lives and survival.
In the wake of the recent hike of petrol price by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, its GMD, Mele Kyari, suddenly muted his voice and transformed into a noun. Kyari suddenly ‘vanished’ from the official, management algorithm of the NNPCL by thrusting the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, into the fray of public discontent to rebut allegations of the NNPCL foisting more hardship on Nigerians, especially when they are yet to recover from the May 29, 2023 unplanned, ill-conceived, lack of clearheaded plan by President Tinubu to remove fuel subsidy.
Everything been equal, Mele Kyari should have led the NNPCL team to the official loading of petrol at the gantry of Dangote Refinery Limited, DRL. Also, the Petroleum Minister, he’s synonymous with the president, was as usual, nowhere near the DRL.
Of course, even a child born yesterday already knows that the Petroleum Minister is President Tinubu and is responsible for the rationing of his baby formula, and his father losing his job because the multinational employer of his father had divested from Nigeria due to Tinubu’s devaluation of the Naira by the grammar ‘floatation of Naira’, hike of electricity tariff, soaring inflation, etcetera, to other countries.
The Minister of Petroleum has received the full brunt anger of Nigerians, especially through the shoddy management of the ongoing, open-ended repair, maintenance work at the Porthacourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries. Nigerians have openly criticized the Petroleum Minister for the recent hike in petrol price to over N1200 per litre across Nigeria, in the midst of being an oil producing nation!
Obviously, the sudden silence of Kyari, and his withdrawal into the background on NNPCL’s public activities, especially in these times of the back-and-forth denials by DRL and his corporation, leaves room for conjectures which are obviously too glaring not to be missed.
Kyari’s absence at DRL’s official loading of petrol on Sunday suggests that all is not well in his relationship with his boss, the Petroleum Minister. And this raises a lot of concerns, especially considering the huge, strategic influence of the NNPCL in the management of Nigeria’s number one foreign exchange, petrol-dollar commodity earning power, in international crude oil trading. Any policy decision that may hint at a change of leadership baton at the NNPCL is most likely to affect ongoing crude oil contracts, especially when former President Buhari had mortgaged Nigeria’s crude oil for loans for the next 35 years!
Given the above scenarios, would it not be possible that kyari’s absence from public glare could be attributed to his being busy, writing his hand over notes for an eventual, resignation exit from his exalted position as GMD of the NNPCL?
Nigeria is an interesting country where protesters are charged for a common offence of carrying placards to protest; where placards are considered as AK-47 guns, and protesting minors are slammed into jail as attempting to overthrow government. Also, it’s a country where presidential spokesmen resign on the grounds of flimsy excuses of ‘critical, serious, life threatening, personal and nuclear family health challenges’. Nigerians are no fools and can see clearly and further albeit they are crying under the hardship foisted on them.
Kyari’s absence from public glare underscores the need for his boss, the Petroleum Minister, President Tinubu, to ASAP, order him to resign his appointment and save Nigeria and Nigerians the ignominy of having an inept NNPCL GMD to further impoverish Nigerians with hardship.
As Kyari prepares his hand over notes, the Petroleum Minister should consider to resign his position as minister to give way for the appointment of a technocrat in the mold and capacity of the leaders of Aramco Petrobras and Gazprom, etcetera. A word is enough for the wise.
By Onorakpene Eviosekwofa