President Umaru Yar’Adua, on Tuesday, appointed Alhaji Mohammed Barkindo as the new Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, signaling the end of Alhaji Abubakar Yar’Adua’s tenure as the head of the corporation.
Also relieved of her appointment was the Coordinator, Group Legal and Corporate Services, NNPC, Chief Sena Anthony. She was replaced by the Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Prof. Yinka Omoregbe. Omoregbe was also the Head, Legal, Oil and Gas Industry Committee, in charge of ongoing reforms in the industry.
Barkindo, 50, who hails from Yola in Adamawa State in the North East region of Nigeria was before his appointment the Coordinator of Special Projects in NNPC, and was in-charge of coordinating and monitoring the implementation of NNPC/FGN special projects under bilateral agreements that are linked to oil block allocations.
A statement signed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, said that Barkindo’s appointment “took effect from Monday, January 12, 2009.”
Yar’Adua, who was appointed in August 2007, to replace Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, was due to retire by the middle of 2009, when he would have clocked the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.
It was, however, learnt that the Presidency was not inclined to allow him serve out his term because he had allegedly lost favour with the First Lady, Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua, who was believed to be one of his strongest ally.
Our correspondents gathered from reliable sources that he might have lost favour at the Presidency for getting involved in an untidy oil block-related issue that the President frowned on.
The fact that the outgoing GMD and the new Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, hail from the same North West zone might also have been a factor in his replacement.
Lukman is a native of Kaduna State, while Yar’Adua hails from Kastina.
The new appointment will, however, provide more ammunition for critics who accuse President Umaru Yar’Adua of appointing mainly persons from the northern region into leadership positions in the energy industry.
In fact, there were speculations that the Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC, Mr. Reginald Stanley, might have been replaced with one Mrs. Abdulrahman.
Aside Lukman and Barkindo, the leadership of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund, Department of Petroleum Resources and Power Holding Company of Nigeria all hail from the northern part of the country despite the fact that commercial oil is yet to be discovered in that part of the country.
Expectations were that either the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Mr. Chris Ogienwonyi, or the GED, Refinery and Production, Mr. Onochie Anyaoku, would succeed Yar’Adua, since they hailed from Edo and Anambra states respectively and their appointments would have attempted to correct the seeming ethnic imbalance in the energy industry.
People from the Niger Delta had at various occasions demanded that a native of the area be appointed as the GMD of NNPC since Nigeria’s oil was mainly extracted from the region.
But many industry watchers are not surprised at Barkindo’s appointment, not only because he is considered as Lukman’s ‘right-hand man,’ but also because his appointment marked the completion of what has been described as the ‘northernisation’ of the NNPC and the industry. Barkindo was alleged to be the candidate of Lukman, who was keen to have a GMD who will be loyal to him.
Barkindo was said to have served as Lukman’s Special Assistant during an earlier stint as the Minister of Petroleum.
The position of GMD of NNPC may, however, cease to exist or be re-designated when the changes planned by the OGIC committee take effect.
The OGIC Reform, which is now a bill before the National Assembly, seeks to carve out some units from NNPC including the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, and Nigeria Gas Company, and make them either independent entities or have their functions performed in an entirely different pattern.
As a Coordinator in NNPC, Barkindo monitored the progress of the West African Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline project and put in place facilities to enhance the Liquefied Petroleum Gas market development in Nigeria by gas producing companies.
He also supervised NNPC’s involvement in the implementation of government investment directives in LPG supply logistics to the domestic market.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Hamman Ahmed, officially served the government his notice of retirement on Tuesday.
The Head, Public Relations Department, NCS, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, said, “The Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Hamman Bello Ahmed, OFR, has served a formal notice of retirement from service today. He is awaiting directives on handover. A statement will be issued shortly.”
Ahmed, who was appointed the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service in April 2008, was said to have reached the retirement age in December 2008.
However, unconfirmed reports have it that a female Deputy Comptroller-General, Rhoda Akor, has been appointed to replace Ahmed.