TheCable

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has congratulated Mele Kyari on his appointment as the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kyari on Thursday.

Kyari, who is the current group general manager, crude marketing division, will assume office as NNPC GMD on July 7.

In a statement on Thursday, Waziri Adio, executive secretary of NEITI, described the appointment as an intimation of more openness and reforms in the national oil company.

Adio said as a member of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative working group on commodity trading transparency, Kyari’s appointment has placed him in a vantage position to push the frontiers of openness and to work more closely with NEITI and the global EITI to implement remedial issues in NEITI’s reports.

He added that the implementation of the findings of NEITI’s reports will not just be effective for operations of NNPC but also for optimisation of benefits of the oil and gas sector to Nigeria and Nigerians.

“Mr Kyari is a well-known transparency champion and one who enthusiastically shares the principles which underline the work of NEITI and the global EITI on good governance of the oil and gas industry,” the statement said.

“Just yesterday, Mr. Kyari participated at a session on ‘the business case for state-owned enterprise and commodity trading transparency’ at the EITI global conference in Paris, France.

“His commitments to the values of EITI are not in doubt. On behalf of the Board, Management and Staff of NEITI, I congratulate Mr. Kyari on this well-deserved appointment.

“We look forward to close collaboration between our two organisations in the interest of our country and we do hope that transparency and accountability will be taking notches higher and indeed mainstreamed in the operations of NNPC under his watch.”