Outgoing NNPC boss, Ibe Kachikwu and Incumbent Baru.
Outgoing NNPC boss, Ibe Kachikwu and Incumbent MaikanBaru.

Outgoing Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu has formally handed over to the new GMD, Maikanti Baru.

Kachikwu who pledged to give Baru every support he might need in his new position said under him, the corporation had undergone series of restructuring which should be sustained. “The NNPC,” he said, “has undergone a lot in 11 months.” He claimed the corporation has within that time cut its operational costs by 30 percent and partially deregulated the downstream sector. He also said NNPC has commercialized its business.

“I want you to know that this is a great task; be focused and see it as a service to the nation. Work hard to leave a great legacy,” Kachikwu told Baru. Continuing, he said: “it is not how long you stay that matters but how well. Look for legacy issues and work on them. I will give you every support that will help you to supersede what I have achieved.”

Ibe Kachikwu, during the handover also threw up a recurrent challenge: how to fund Nigeria’s refineries and make them work optimally. He told Baru: “We need to find a structure in which private fund will be used to help our refineries to work at 90% capacity.”