Buhari appoints ExxonMobile Vice Chair to head NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of the Executive Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Africa, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, to head Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Kachikwu is expected to take over from Joseph Darwa at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja around 3:00 PM Nigerian time.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on June 26 ordered for immediate dissolution of the board of the National Petroleum Corporation.
The decision was conveyed in a letter signed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation [HoS], Mr. Danladi Kifasi.
The letter quoted President Buhari as thanking members of the dissolved board for their services to the nation.
The NNPC is the state-run oil company which oversees Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Its board is statutorily headed by the minister of petroleum resources.
The corporation regulates the oil and gas sector, and also operates as a joint venture partner representing the government in deals with oil multinationals.
The NNPC has in recent years been accused of large scale corruption, the latest being the alleged disappearance of $20 billion oil money.
An independent audit ordered by the Nigerian government in 2014 concluded that the corporation has an outstanding $1.48 billion it should pay to the government.
The NNPC has yet to make the payment several months after the release of the audit report.
In another development, President Muhammadu Buhari is presently perfecting plans to split the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into two entities in one of his anti-corruption stratagems.
The disclosure was made by the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina in a state house press release.