Mele Kyari Archives | Trendbrio.com

EFCC Receives Petition Against Mele Kyari Promises Swift Investigation

Our Reporters1 month ago1 month ago14 mins

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has received a petition from a coalition of lawyers and civil society groups against the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari. The petition, submitted on Friday, follows recent protests by the “Concerned Citizens Against Corruption” at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja, where demonstrators called for a thorough probe into Kyari’s leadership and NNPCL’s transactions over the past five years. Similarly, on Wednesday, another group of lawyers under the banner of “Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law” marched to the Ministry of Justice to formally petition the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). Following this, the group also submitted a parallel petition to the EFCC. Receiving the petition on behalf of the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, the commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, assured the petitioners that the issues raised would be thoroughly investigated.“The issues raised in the petition will be looked into and addressed,” Oyewale stated. The petition accuses Kyari of monumental fraud, tax evasion, economic sabotage, and abuse of office during his tenure from July 2019 to February 2025. Led by Asika Raymond, the Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law alleged that Kyari, in collusion with certain contractors and consultants, inflated the costs of refinery rehabilitation projects, notably the Port Harcourt Refinery, where $1.5 billion was allegedly spent despite an initial $1 billion estimate for the rehabilitation of three refineries. The petition also highlights allegations of crude oil diversion, opaque financial transactions under the guise of “pipeline security” at a suspicious rate of 80,000 barrels per day, and irregularities in the $5 billion AKK Gas Pipeline Project. Further concerns were raised regarding fuel subsidy fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic when NNPCL reportedly increased petroleum imports, contrary to global trends of reduced fuel consumption. The petition questions the transparency of crude-backed loans worth $21.565 billion secured by NNPCL since 2019, alleging that the terms were unfavorable to Nigeria, ceding financial benefits to oil traders. Kyari is also accused of authorizing massive, undocumented spending on oil exploration projects without clear feasibility studies or demonstrated economic returns. The lawyers urged the EFCC to conduct a forensic audit of all payments made to consultants and contractors from 2019 to 2025, recover misappropriated funds, and collaborate with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate suspected cases of tax evasion.

Tinubu Reconstitutes NNPCL Board, Appoints New Chairman, Group CEO

Our Reporters2 months ago2 months ago07 mins

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari. President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023. The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman. Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu. Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West, Yusuf Usman, North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central. President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East. Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. All the appointments are effective today, April 2. President Tinubu, invoking the powers granted under Section 59, subsection 2 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, emphasised that the board’s restructuring is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, restoring investor confidence, boosting local content, driving economic growth, and advancing gas commercialisation and diversification. President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture Assets to ensure alignment with value maximisation objectives. Since 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented oil sector reforms to attract investment. Last year, NNPC reported $17 billion in new investments within the sector. The administration now envisions increasing the investment to $30 billion by 2027 and $60 billion by 2030. The Tinubu administration targets raising oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million daily by 2030. Concurrently, the government wants gas production jacked to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030. Furthermore, President Tinubu expects the new board to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030. The new board chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is from Borno State. He is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1984. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering from the Institut Francaise du Petrol (IFP) in Paris He started his career in the oil industry at Elf Petroleum Nigeria and later joined Total Exploration and Production as a trainee engineer in 1985. Musa became Total Nigeria’s Deputy Managing Director of Deep Water Services in 2015. Last year, he became an Independent Non-Executive Director at Pan Ocean-Newcross Group. Apart from his oil industry career, Ahmadu Musa Kida is a former basketballer and the president of the Nigerian Basketball Federation(NBBF) board. Ojulari, the new NNPC Limited Group CEO, hails from Kwara State. Until his new appointment, He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. His Renaissance recently led a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark acquisition of the entire equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), worth $2.4 billion. Like Kida, Ojulari is also an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for Elf Aquitaine as the first Nigerian process engineer to begin a stellar career in the oil sector. From Elf, he joined Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 1991 as an associate production technologist. Apart from working in Nigeria, he worked in Europe and the Middle East in different capacities as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager. In 2015, he became the managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO). During his career, he was chairman and member of the board of trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigerian Council) and a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. President Tinubu thanked the old board members for their dedicated service to NNPC Limited, particularly their efforts in rehabilitating the old Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, which enabled them to resume petroleum product production after prolonged shutdowns. He wished them well in their future endeavours.