Th ings are no longer at ease at the commanding height of the nation’s cash cowoil, as Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu r eported the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, to President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to take urgent actions on matters ranging from alleged illegal practices to insubordination.
Kachikwu said he found it pertinent to call the president’s attention to Baru’s misgivings which he said were capable of hindering progress in the country’s petroleum sector or even reverse recorded strides.
“Parastatals in the ministry and all CEOs of these parastatals must be aligned with the policy drive of the ministry to allow the sector register the growth that has eluded it for many years.
“To do otherwise or to exempt any of the parastatals would be to emplace a stunted growth for the industry,” Kachikwu said.
The minister furtherexplained that he was forced to write the August 30 letter to the president after concerted efforts to have a one-on-one appointment with the president could not materialise.
The letter, which emerged on the Internet Tuesday, was widely circulated on Twitter.
It is yet unclear how it found its way to the public space.
The minister reportedly said he suffered “disrespectful and humiliating conducts” from Mr. Baru.
A spokesperson for the NNPC did not immediately have reactions about the specific elements of the letter, telling Premium Times it was not meant for public consumption.
“It was a private communication between party A and party B. I don’t think it’s proper for us to comment on that,” NNPC’s head of media, Udu Ughamadu told Premium Times yesterday Tuesday afternoon.
Similarly, Kachikwu’s spokesman, Uche Ozurumba, did not immediately respond to the reporter’s requests for comments.
The conflict between the duo had been well concealed from the media for the most part, although it was first hinted more than a year ago.
In September 2016, the Daily Independent in Lagos reported friction between the duo, which centred around the administration’s N i g e r – D e l t a policy.
W h i l e K a c h i k w u , a native of Delta state, urged peaceful r e s o l u t i o n and increased e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t for the restive region; Baru was in favour of a military crackdown on criminal elements vandalising oil pipelines, the newspaper reported.
The NNPC GMD said the economic sabotage by militants had cut deeply into the country’s revenues, a situation he said was unsustainable.
But Kachikwu did not play up the Niger-Delta crisis in his latest letter to Buhari, focusing instead on the consequences of reckless disregard for extant regulations in the wake of disruptive technological advancements which could see fossil fuel become redundant in the years ahead.
Consequently, the minister urged the president to order the NNPC GMD to make adjustments on five issues that range from strict deference to the NNPC Board of Directors, which Kachikwu chairs, to unfettered collaboration among all agencies in the petroleum sector.
Presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not respond to requests for comments.
