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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has said that only President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the final say in the purported exit of its Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, in January 2025.
The NNPC spokesperson Olufemi Soneye said this while speaking to Daily Post on Monday.
Some industrial stakeholders believe that Kyari, who would turn 60 years on January 8, 2025, may retire from service and be replaced with one Bayo Ojulari.
However NNPC described Kyari exit claims as false, insisting that it is the prerogative of Tinubu to keep or fire the company’s GCEO.
“I don’t know anything about that; all those things are rumors and false. The man (Mele Kyari) has his time and tenure; the president has the final say. As the Minister of Petroleum, anything he wants to do, he will do. For us, it is to continue with our work and do it right,” he said.
He further explained that NNPCL’s appointments are based on expertise, skills, and ability to deliver, not on ethnicity, religion, or other sentiments.
“This is a global energy company. Movement in the company is based on expertise, skills, and ability to deliver, not on the basis that you are from X, Y, or Z; you are Muslim or Christian. Gone are the days we did that; if we do that, we cannot have foreigners working for us. We have Dutch, American, and British managing directors of our businesses. If we are doing only Muslim, Christian, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, we won’t have them. Where we have Nigerians that can deliver, they are there. We, the company, look for professionals that can deliver,” he added.
