- Safiu Kehinde
The Director of African Studies Center at the University of Michigan, Prof. Lade Adunbi, has charged the new board members of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to make the company a profitable corporation and not a government cash cow.
NPO Reported that President Bola Tinubu had on Wednesday morning sacked the NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Melee Kyari, replacing him with Bayo Ojulari.
Tinubu also made 10 new changes in the company’s board, paving way for a new dispensation after Kyari’s six years reign.
Reacting to the development in a statement made available to NPO Reports on Wednesday, Adunbi, harped on the need for the new board the consolidate recent gains of the group, steering it towards profitablity.
The Professor of Anthropology, Afro-american, and African Studies, who is currently on sabbatical in Nigeria, also charged the NNPC board to be responsive to the needs of communities where oil resources are extracted.
He called for the eradication of the old practice of extraction on account of the damage it does to lives and livelihoods in the Niger Delta.
The statement read in part; “The hope of Nigerians is that the reconstituted board would begin to move towards achieving the original goal of NNPC when it was established in 1977, which was to become a true multinational oil corporation that would have exploration interests in Nigeria and elsewhere.
“The starting point for the new board is to consolidate recent gains of the group by making sure that it truly becomes a profitable corporation and not a government cash cow.
“Secondly, it is my hope that the NNPCL will become responsive to the needs of communities where oil resources are extracted.
“The old practice of extraction would need to give way to new proactive that takes into cognizance the damage that extraction does to lives and livelihoods in the Niger Delta.
“The company would need to reposition itself as a truly Nigerian company that cares about Nigerians and Nigeria.
“To make the company a true multinational oil giant headquartered in Nigeria, the leadership may want to begin to make bold steps in weaning Nigeria from fossil fuel by devising a multimodal approach to extraction.
“Gains from oil today can be invested in clean and renewable energy that will eventually make Nigeria and its fragile environment sustainable.”