President
Adesina listed members of the new board as
The appointments came as Buhari mourned the death of the immediate past Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who passed on yesterday. The late GMD served in the 2016 board, and he was rumoured to have died of complications from the coronavirus.
In a related development, the
The appointment of the six members of the new board, as announced yesterday, did not include three other statutory appointments into the board. These include the nominations of the board chairman, who must be the Minister of
The development implies retention of the status quo that has been criticised by experts, including
Falana had alluded to Section 1(2) of the Act, which stipulates that the affairs of NNPC "shall, subject to Part II of this Act, be conducted by a Board of Directors of the Corporation which shall consist of a Chairman and the following other members, that is- (a) the Director-General,
The provision for the sixth member of the board is contained in Section 1 (3) of the Act, which stipulates that the Chairman of the NNPC Board of Directors "shall be a Minister in the Government of 1979 No. 44 the Federation to be known and styled as the Minister of
Given the appointment of the six members announced yesterday by the president, and the statutory membership of the petroleum minister, a representative of the Ministry of Finance, and the GMD of NNPC, the total members of the newly reconstituted board will remain nine.
On
The trio of Akinyelure, Umar, and Lawal have been reappointed into the reconstituted board.
Upon the exit of Kachikwu, who ceased to be Minister of State for Petroleum and chairman of the board on
Other members of the board, who ran the body since
At the time John was appointed as the alternate chairman of the board in
Falana had criticised the constitution of the former board by the president for not only violating the NNPC Act, with nine members instead of six, but also for violating the
According to Falana, the former board comprised three members from the North-east, two from the South-south, one from the North-central, two from the North-west, and one from the South-west, without any representation from the South-east. He said this was in violation of the
The geographical representation in the former board was as follows: Timipre Sylva (South-south), Thomas John (South-south), Mele Kyari (North-east), Abba Kyari (North-east), Tajudden Umar (North-east), Isa-Dutse (North-central),
In view of the alleged geopolitical and numerical infractions, Falana warned that unless the board "is properly constituted, its decisions may be set aside with dire consequences for the national economy." He called for an amendment of the NNPC Act to raise the number of the board members from six to nine "to avoid a situation whereby decisions of the board are challenged in court."
Reacting to the reconstitution of the board yesterday, Falana said the board remained nine, in breach of the NNPC Act.
However, he acknowledged that the president had by the new appointments addressed the issue of geographical imbalance in the former board. He said unlike the previous board, which had six members from the North as against three from the South, there were now five members from the North and four from the South, with every geopolitical zone represented.
According to Falana, "The reconstitution of the NNPC board is a partial response to the allegation of ethnic imbalance in breach of the Federal Character Commission Act. It is partial in the sense that the Buhari administration may be said to have complied with Section 14 (3) of the
"But by excluding women and oil workers from the board, the composition of the administration cannot be said to have complied with Section 42 of the
"However, it is pertinent to point out that previous regimes had illegally constituted the NNPC board with nine members. If the administration had decided to retain the nine-member board, it has to take urgent steps to stop the impunity by requesting the
Buhari, OPEC Mourn Baru
Meanwhile, the former GMD of NNPC, Baru, passed on in the early hours of Saturday at the age of 60. Baru was a member of the board of directors of the corporation that served from 2016 to 2019.
Although, the cause of his death was not officially announced, there were speculations that the former NNPC boss might have died of complications from COVID-19 infection.
In a swift reaction to the death, Buhari who had appointed Baru to head the NNPC in 2016, condoled with the ex-GMD's family, friends and professional colleagues. He also commiserated with the government and people of Bauchi State, as well as the management and staff of NNPC over Baru's death, saying the deceased worked very hard to initiate reforms in virtually all departments of the corporation, bringing it up to speed with global trends and best practices.
According to a statement by Adesina, Buhari acknowledged Baru's efforts to ensure stability in
Barkindo said Baru was a hardworking and committed person who believed in transparency and accountability. He said in the condolence message, "Dr Maikanti Baru was a good and hardworking professional whom l had absolute confidence in both as his colleague in NNPC and, later, as GMD.
"As GMD of NNPC he repositioned the corporation and the
Bauchi Gov Mourns Maikanti, Describes His Death As A Great Loss
On his part, the Bauchi State Governor, Senator
PANDEF Hails Reconstitution, Insists on NNPC's Reorganisation
In a statement Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon.
"It is simply abhorrent that the Group Managing Director (GMD), the Chief Finance Officer, Finance and Account, the Corporate Secretary/Legal Adviser to the Corporation, and Chief Executives of virtually all strategic divisions and subsidiaries of the NNPC are persons from the Northern zones of the country."
It urged Buhari to further "carry out a holistic rejigging of the lopsided NNPC management structure, and correct the imbalances, in the interest of equity, fairness, peace and national cohesion".
PANDEF added, "It is significant to recall that the position of Group Managing Director of the NNPC was traditionally and rightly, reserved for persons from the South-south geopolitical zone, which produces about 95 per cent of the nation's crude extraction. It won't be out of place, therefore, to ask for the restoration of that tradition."
But it said the latest NNPC board composition was a departure from the 2016 board arrangement, which had no representation from the South-east, an oil producing zone.
"PANDEF further implores those, particularly from the
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