Oil and Gas industry operators have described the appointment of Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), by President Muhammadu Buhari as one of the best things to happen to the industry in recent times.
As Kachukwu took over the mantle of leadership yesterday , operators said he is versed in oil and gas sector legalese as well as contract structuring and negotiating. He is also described as a business driven personality whose actions are informed by business interest.
President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Umaru Garba Danbatta, a professor, as the new executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), according to a statement issued on Tuesday. Danbatta, who holds a Doctorate Degree in Electronic Engineering, takes over from Eugene Juwah whose tenure expired on July 29, 2015.
Speaking with BusinessDay, Lanre Ajayi, national president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), urged the new EVC to accelerate the implementation of the National Broadband Plan (NBP).
“We hope that the new NCC boss does everything in his power to ensure that the country’s broadband penetration moves from 10 percent to 30 percent by 2018 as clearly outlined in the broadband plan”, he said in an interview.
According to Ajayi, Danbatta should continue to maintain the harmony in the industry by creating the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. “The new NCC boss must work towards expanding network capacity with the aim of providing quality services to Nigerians”, he further added.
On Kachikwu as helmsman at the NNPC, operators urged him to quickly address issues of corruption and find solution to the payment of cash calls which are crippling the industry.
The managing director of an indigenous oil firm, who asked not to be named, told BusinessDay that even though he is a lawyer, Kachikwu rose through set processes in ExxonMobil to become the vice chairman of the company.
“He understands the industry very well and has transversed the downstream and upstream of ExxonMobil.”
He said what the job of NNPC group managing director requires is a sense of purpose and integrity, which Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu possesses.
He however said the new NNPC helmsman would have to contend with a barrage of problems facing the organisation, and by extension, the industry as a whole. Such issues he said include how to resolve the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), oil subsidy and making the refineries more functional.
Another senior ExxonMobil executive described Kachikwu as very competent and particularly strong on contracts within the downstream and upstream sector of the industry.
He further said Kachikwu is a business driven investor with over 30 years experience, including in restructuring business.
Now that the government want NNPC to be split into two he is well grounded to the job because of his past experience, he said.
Eddy Wikina, a former external affairs manager with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production, said the new NNPC GMD should revive the confidence of Nigerians in the organisation.
Kachikwu is a distinction graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Nigerian Law School. He has worked as an Investment Attorney in USA, as General Counsel with Texaco Upstream and Downstream in Nigeria and as Executive Vice Chairman of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and General Counsel for ExxonMobil Nigeria affiliate Upstream and Downstream Companies in Nigeria.
He has forayed into business, working as Chairman and CEO of his own companies in downstream petroleum, law practice and consultancy and publishing. He has lectured in Nigeria, at Harvard and various institutions around the world as visiting lecturer and professor in law.
Olusola Bello, Elizabeth Archibong & Ben Uzor