The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has officially handed over to the newly appointed Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru.

The hand-over ceremony took place on Friday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Dr. Kachikwu spoke on key areas that his predecessor must focus on to achieve development in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

Some of the areas emphasised include maintaining the deregulation policy, ensuring petroleum product availability and prompt audit of NNPC’s financial report.

The minister said that he wants the new helmsman to remain apolitical and seek ways to meet the developmental gap in the petroleum sector.

He listed some of his achievements in the past 11 months such as the 270 million Naira profit made by the NNPC.

Giving his speech, Dr. Baru highlighted his 11-point agenda which includes his priority to improve revenue accruing from the oil and gas sector.

The event is coming on the heels of President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the composition of the Board of the NNPC, as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act of 1997, as amended.

President Buhari urged the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of the NNPC, “and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset.” (Channels TV)

•Photo shows NNPC’s new GMD, Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru.