President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday sacked the Group Executive
Director, Exploration and Production, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
Mr. Abiye Membere, and appointed five new ones to fill existing vacancies.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the new appointees and their portfolios
are Mr. Ian Udoh, Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals; Dr.
Dan Efebo, Group Executive Director, Corporate Services; and Ms. Aisha
Abdurrahman, Group Executive Director, Business Development.
Others are Mr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Group Executive Director, Engineering
and Technical; and Dr. Joseph Dawha, Acting Group Executive Director,
Exploration and Production.
Abati said the appointments took immediate effect.
Among the GEDs, the one in charge of the Exploration and Production is
one of the most influential in the hierarchy of the NNPC because the department
is responsible for producing the crude oil that is the mainstay of the Nigerian
economy.
It was gathered that some of the old GEDs had retired from the
corporation without the government filling their positions, while some served
in acting capacities.
For instance, the former GED, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Anthony
Ogbuigwe, and GED, Business Development, Mr. Aminu Babakusa, were said to have
retired from the services of the NNPC.
The former acting GEDs, Corporate Services and Engineering and Technical
were replaced with substantive directors.
Those that retained their portfolios are the GEDs, Commerce and
Investment, Dr. Attahir Yusuf; Finance and Accounts, Mr. Bernard Otti; Gas and
Power, Dr. David Ige; and Comapny Secretary/Legal Adviser, Anthony Madichie.
Udoh, according to the statement, is a native of Akwa Ibom State and has
been the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining and Petrochemicals
Company Limited since November 2012.
He has considerable experience of managing the nation’s refineries,
having previously held the position of Executive Director, Operations, at both
the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited and the PHRPC.
In addition, Udoh had previously served as a general manager in the
Refining and Petrochemicals Directorate of NNPC.
Efebo, who hails from Bayelsa State, was until the latest appointment
the Group General Manager in charge of the NNPC’s Human Resources Division. He
was previously General Manager, Human Resources, Brass LNG.
Abdurrahman is a native of Kogi State and was the Managing Director,
Nikorma, NNPC’s shipping subsidiary.
She also served as Managing Director of Hyson, an NNPC trading
subsidiary; and as Executive Director (Services), Pipelines and Products
Marketing Company.
Ibirogba, a chemical engineer, until now was the Group General Manager,
Engineering, NNPC’s Engineering and Technology Directorate, and hails from Ogun
State.
He served at various times as General Manager (New Business), General
Manager (Gas Development), and Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries.
In 2010, Ibirogba became the first African to be elected to the Board of
Directors of the World LP Gas Association.
Dawha, who replaces Membere as Group Executive Director, Exploration and
Production, was previously the Managing Director of Integrated Data Services
Limited.
He is an indigene of Borno State and has served the corporation over the
years in various capacities in the upstream and downstream sectors of the
industry.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, Mr. Babs
Omotowa, on Wednesday said the firm paid N220bn as tax on its operational
profit in 2013.
According to him, the firm prides itself as the biggest tax payer and
gas income earner in the country.
Omotowa said this in Abuja at the inauguration of the company’s
university support programme.
“Our corporate income tax will exceed N220bn per annum, which is by far
the highest in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
He added that the NLNG had also commercialised over four trillion cubic
feet of natural gas to lead the country’s aspiration for flare reduction at oil
production sites