.Danbatta named NCC vice-chairman
President Muhammadu Buhari has announced the appointment of Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the new Group Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
The NNPC is at the centre of several allegations of fraud , with the obvious being the allegation by the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria that billions of dollars was not accounted for by the corporation in the last few years.
It is also the supervisor Nigeria’s oil industry where millions of dollars is lost daily to now notorious oil theft.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statment, “Dr. Kachikwu who was the executive vice chairman and general counsel of Exxon-Mobil (Africa) is to take over from Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha.
Kachikwu hails from Onich Ugbo in Delta State, south-south of Nigeria.
Buhari, who was inaugurated on May 29 after an election victory earlier in the year that owed much to his vow to fight corruption, dissolved the NNPC board in June as a first step to cleaning up the oil sector in Africa’s biggest crude producer.
The NNPC represents national interests in oil and gas exploration and manages the energy sector. It is also the regulator for the oil sector in Africa’s biggest economy, which provides the government with around 70 percent of its revenue.
The president, who has yet to announce his cabinet, is seen likely to keep the oil portfolio for himself.
President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Professor Umaru Garba Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission.
