By Bassey Udo
Picture: GMD NNPC, Mele Kyari with the award. With is the former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will continue to embrace transparency and aaccountability in its operations, its Group Managing Director/CEO, Mele Kyari, said on Saturday.
Kyari spoke in Lagos at his conferrment with “The Sun Man of the Year,” by the management of The Sun Publishing Company Limited, publishers of The Sun Newspaper titles.
The award is the first to be conferred on him since his appointment as the the GMD/CEO of the new NNPC.
Kyari received the award in a colourful ceremony attended by prominent Nigerians in and outside government, including the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe; Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar; Ondo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Speaking on the award, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Publishing Newspapers Limited, Onuoha Ukeh, said Kyari was honoured for his doggedness and resilience in successfully managing the NNPC operations during the challenging period of COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Ukeh said the crisis triggered by the pandemic saw the economies of most countries across the world struggling for survival.
But Kyari managed to the NNPC operations afloat, sustaining one of the longest period of uninterrupted supply of petroleum products for Nigerians despite the difficulties in importation of products as a result of growing foreign exchange problems
“Take Mele Kyari and dissect his achievements. In addition to the record breaking N287billion profits posted for 2020 financial, the best since inception of the company over 44 years ago, the NNPC he heads published the Audited Financial Statements (AFS). It was trailblazing and a whiff of good fortune in a beleaguered entity and time,” Ukeh said.
In his acceptance speech, the NNPC GMD/CEO said the NNPC under his leadership would remain ever committed to continue conducting its operations with transparency and accountability.
He attributed the successes recorded by his management team of the NNPC to the freehand and support accorded him by President Muhammadu Buhari who, he said, never interfered in the affairs of the company.
“What we have done in recent years is to ensure that we take out all the opaqueness in NNPC operations. We also ensured that we represent Nigerians and work for them,, who are our shareholders,” the GMD/CEO added.
Thanking the publishers of the Sun newspaper for finding him worthy of the award, Kyari described the honour as a huge responsibility and a privilege which would 1spur him to do more for the benefit of the over 200 million Nigerians.
Kyari was accompanied to the event by some members of his management team, namely the Group Executive Director (GED) Finance & Accounts, Umar Ajiya; GED Upstream, Adokiye Tombomieye; GED Gas & Power, Mohammed Ahmed; GED Ventures & Business Development, Billy Okoye; Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Bala Wunti; Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Mohammed Ali-Zara and hjs counterpart in Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL), Marcel Amu.
