Will Buhari Learn
President Mohammed Buhari

By Erasmus Ikhide

SENATOR Ifeanyi Ararume’s appointment as the pioneer Chairman of the new

NNPC has been applauded by many as one of best appointment made by

President Muhammadu Buhari since he assumed office over six years ago.

Ararume has both robust experience in the private and public sector which

will rub off positively on the altered NNPC.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was created on April 1,

1977 by the then military administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo as a

State owned Oil Company to play in the oil and gas space. It was patterned

after Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Brazil’s Petrobras.

With the passage of time, mismanagement of the company has made it descend

into a white elephant project with huge financial losses being declared by

it annually while its counterparts all over the world are wildly

profitable. It recently made its first profit after over a decade of

colossal losses.

The stakeholders in the industry that lays the golden egg for the nation

pressed for reforms through the Petroleum Industry Bill which was recently

passed into law as the Petroleum Industry Act which has changed the status

of the NNPC into a Limited Liability Company with effect from February

2022. Now that the NNPC will be transiting from a government owned agency

into a profit driven organization, it needs someone at the helm to provide

direction and uncommon leadership in order for it to meet its goals.

Senator Ararumen has been here for quite a while. Few people know that he

was once resident in Benin City where he owned the largest pharmaceutical

chain at the time there. His business interests spreads across the length

and breadth of Nigeria and in the process built sturdy bridges across the

nation. Even though the new NNPC will be privately run as from next year as

President Buhari seeks further amendments to the PIA law, it also requires

someone with a strong political background to effectively steer its ship as

it will take some time for it to be completely weaned off from total

government dependence. Ararume perfectly fits the bill with his twin public

and private sector experience.

He is no political green horn as he has been in the cloak and dagger game

since the defunct Third Republic where he pitched his tent with the

National Republican Convention (NRC) as a member of its national finance

committee between 1990 and 1993. He was elected Senator representing Imo

North (Okigwe) between 1999 and 2007 and was the Chairman of the Senate

Committee on Power and Steel, Vice Chairman of the Senate committee on the

Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chairman Public Hearing

committee for South-West zone on amendments to the 1999 Constitution,

member of the National Assembly Joint Constitution Review Committee (JCRC)

and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. He was

Chairman of the Southern Senators’ Forum.

But for the flawed electoral system, he would have been the Imo State

Governor in 2007 as he won the primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP) but his name was unfairly substituted with that of Charles Ugwu. His

popularity was affirmed as his exit from the party in protest of the gross

injustice led to its electoral loss when the Imolites gave a protest vote

to Ikedi Ohakim of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA).

Ararume has the grit and street wisdom to lead the NNPC to the path of

sustainable profitability as he is a proven and tested manager of men and

resources. Imo state where he hails from is a member of the NDDC and he has

been in the forefront of resource control and greater devolution of powers

to the states as a firm believer in true federalism.

Even though his position as the Chairman will be nominal as the executive

powers will reside with Mele Kyari who is the Managing Director of the

NNPC, his position is akin to that of the Queen of England who reigns while

the Prime Minister governs. He will act as a great stabilizing force for a

fairer deal for Nigerians in the beleaguered energy sector whose dividends

has eluded them since crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity

in Oloibiri in present day Bayelsa State in 1956.

His input will be highly valued and he will use his vast local and global

contacts to ensure that the corporation becomes wildly commercially

successful. The position of the Chairman of a Board even though ceremonial

is usually reserved for the cream of the crop in local and global circles.

Al Gore, former US Vice-President served as a Member of the Board of

Directors of Apple after he left the White House in 2001. Condelezza Rice

served on the Board of Chevron after her first stint in public office when

she served on the committee that permanently dismantled the then Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Coming down locally, the nation’s foremost downstream oil and gas company,

Ocean and Oil (OANDO) has Major-General Mohammed Magoro who had a

distinguished military career as a Minister both under the military regimes

of Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari when they held sway as military

leaders as well as a Senator as its Chairman. Former Chief of Army Staff

and Ex Defence Minister, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma who is a famous

soldier served as the Chairman of Union Dicon Salt, the defunct Universal

Trust Bank and many blue chip companies. Professor Pat Utomi, a renowned

political economist and management scholar served as Chairman of the

defunct Platinum Bank and is on the board of many successful companies,

including BusinessDay and Linkserve.

There will be the dawn of a new era with Ararume as the new NNPC Chairman

and the ailing corporation will be properly guided to profitability with

his uncommon leadership, especially at a time when the demand for fossil

fuels all over the world is on a steep decline. The UK for example has set

2030 as the exit date for fossil fuel driven vehicles in favour of electric

powered ones. Their foremost science and technology university, Imperial

College has scrapped Petroleum Engineering from its curriculum.

There will no doubt be a shift to more sustainable areas like gas and

renewable energy. Ararume is well prepared with his education obtained from

the United States and Nigeria to lead this energy restructuring both into

the new world order as well as making the corporation profitable.

Erasmus Ikhide contributed this article from Lagos and can be reached via:

ikhideerasmus@gmail.com, +2348035032123.​

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