President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a leader, but a politician whose
leadership is translucently exemplary. He assumed leadership of
Nigeria at a time the country had been mindlessly raped by rapacious
leaders and dumped to lick its wounds. President Buhari came with the
assurance of hope on the premise of change, what most Nigerians have
come to dub as the ?Change mantra,? of ruling party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC).
The first appointments of the Buhari Presidency reflected his mindset.
It indicated the direction and destination of his intention for Nigeria.
Among the pioneer appointees of the Buhari Presidency was a globally
recognized administrative icon in the oil industry, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
President Buhari first appointed him the Group Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer (GMD/CEO) of NNPC to clean the inherited mess in
the oil and gas sector.
Some Nigerians doubted President Buhari?s independent choice of
Kachikwu, to head its main oil company, as he retained the petroleum
ministry portfolio. Nigeria, a country which has operated on a
mono-economy for decades depended solely on oil to earn its revenues to
fund national expenditure and service her foreign reserves. But the
sector was in complete mess. Exported crude oil revenues had plummeted
dangerously. A barrel of crude oil sold at less than $40 by end of year
2015. And kept fluctuating and further dropped to $28 per barrel.
Again, heightened militancy in the Niger Delta slashed Nigeria?s daily
crude oil export quota significantly. From 2.2 million barrels per day,
it dropped to about 1.2 million. So, what changed was not just the
quantity, but also the price. Leakages? in crude oil revenues further
compounded the problem and with dead refineries, Nigeria found herself
in a fix at the break of dawn. That was the burden placed on Dr.
Kachikwu?s shoulders.
Dr. Kachikwu?s new job was to fix all these problems. An expert in the
administration of the oil industry per excellence, he recorded
impressive impacts from the outset. And an impressed President Buhari
elevated him to the position of Minister of State for Petroleum and
member of the NNPC board. By his new briefs, he was responsible for the
minute by minute supervision of the administration of the oil sector and
reported directly to the Presidency.
The minister launched amazing reforms that installed sanity and probity
in the oil and gas sector. And at the turn of 2017, Dr. Kachikwu had
etched bold imprints in the management of the oil industry in Nigeria.
Every Nigerian can now attest that the oil sector, Nigeria?s cash cow
has experienced relative stability in 2017. Kachikwu has been able to
quell the tension orchestrated by militancy in the Niger Delta; he has
been able to improve Nigeria?s exportable crude oil quota as assigned to
Nigeria by OPEC from the less than 1.2 million to about 2 million
barrels per day.
The minister has been able to sustain domestic refining of crude oil,
which is stored in national reserves for any emergency. He has been
able to calm restive unions in the oil industry. NUPENG or PENGASSAN
have ceased to disrupt the supply of petroleum products, as potentially
explosive issues are promptly resolved to forestall strangulation of the
system and disruption in the public supply of petroleum products.
The policies initiated and implemented by Dr. Kachikwu ensured
stability in the pricing of petroleum products and its availability in
the market. Scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), a perennial plague
of Nigerians, and long fuel queues at filling stations have all
disappeared across the country. There has been no such incident in
2017, which is very unusual with Nigeria.
And quite magically, and in spite of the economic depression, Dr.
Kachikwu has been able to restock Nigeria?s foreign reserves,? from an
empty account to over $31 billion by June 2017. The feat was
accomplished on account of his reforms in the oil sector, which
minimized oil theft and other illegal activities that curtailed national
income from crude oil sales.
There is no gainsaying the Minister of State for Petroleum has been
able to raise a platform in the oil and gas sector that has made every
Nigerian a proud beneficiary of the country?s oil resource. And the
effects have been marvelous.
Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo disclosed during the 2017
Democracy Day celebration that Nigeria has become a country which is
not just saving, but also investing for the future.
He echoed that ??We have in the last two years added US$500m to our
Sovereign Wealth Fund and US$87m to the Excess Crude Account. This is
the very opposite of the situation before now, when rising oil prices
failed to translate to rising levels of savings and investment.?
That Nigeria is attempting to diversify its economy, through
agriculture is understandable. Agricultural produce are now being
exported. But while it is yet to take firm roots, prudent management of
revenues from the oil industry has been handy in funding national
expenditure. And the credit goes to the minister of State for Petroleum,
Dr. Kachikwu whose administrative acumen is gradually rescuing Nigeria
from the pit of economic recession.
Agbese holds a Masters degree in Oil and Gas Management from the Coventry University, United Kingdom.
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