In recognition and acknowledgment of his remarkable contributions to nation-building particularly the oil and gas sector of the economy, the Group Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd), Malam Mele Kyari, is to be conferred with an honorary Doctorate degree by the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
The conferment of the award of the doctoral degree, according to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Suleiman Bala Mohammed, will take place on March 31, 2022 on the campus.
Bala, who announced this during a visit to the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Friday, said Kyari, a Geologist and 19th GMD of the oil firm, had recorded some outstanding achievements since coming on board in July 2019.
The Vice-Chancellor, accompanied by other Principal Officers of the university including the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Sa’adatu Hassan Liman, DVC (Academics), Prof. Haruna Kuje Ayuba and the Registrar, Mallam Bala Isyaka Ahmed II, had presented a letter of nomination for the degree.
He said the purpose of the visit was to also invite the GMD to the 6th combined convocation ceremony during which the GMD will be officially conferred with the doctorate degree.
Bala listed Kyari’s achievements to include successfully securing federation entitlements from production/fiscal arrangements and resolution of various disputes on Petroleum Sharing Contracts.
“Kyari has also been able to champion the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence under his TAPE Agenda with the successful management of Direct Sales and Direct Purchase arrangement of petroleum products to ensure energy security.
“The guiding principle of Kyari in managing the corporation has been the TAPE Agenda and this has been instrumental to the publication of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 financial statements of the company to the public to show transparency,’’ the vice-chancellor said.
Bala also pointed out that the award will serve as a recognition from the academia of his formidable leadership and the contributions he had made to the betterment of the energy sector on the African continent.
Persecondnews.com recalls that the Borno-born Kyari has also been responsible for turning around the fortunes of the NNPC from the 37 years of operating at a loss into a profit-making outfit with its first profit posted in the 2020 financial period.
Under Kyari’s helmsmanship at the NNPC, the company declared a Profit-After-Tax of N287 billion in 2020 after losses were reduced from N803 billion in 2018 to N1.7 billion in 2019, unprecedented feat in the history of the NNPC.
In the last two years, Kyari has spearheaded the automation of the NNPC’s processes and systems reduced its costs of operations and reposition the company to the path where it will deliver value to Nigerians in line with his management vision.
He was also instrumental to the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act which has placed huge responsibility on the NNPC to do things differently and be much more accountable to its shareholders, the over 200 million Nigerians.
Kyari has continued to seamlessly transform the operations of the NNPC, including deepening domestic gas utilization, rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries and public disclosure of NNPC accounts, the first in NNPC’s 44 years of existence.
