President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja inaugurated the boards of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA).
Buhari said the new boards were coming at a time when the global petroleum industry was witnessing a downturn in purchase which he noted, had also translated into dwindling production by most producer nations.
“Nigeria has been hit by the misfortunes of oil industry but several countries have been hit much harder,” he said.
He expressed optimism that the NNPC board chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu and other well selected people would drive the corporation into harnessing its potentials and fulfilling its expectations to Nigerians even at a challenging time in the oil and gas industry.
He said the boards should ensure propriety in the management of the most important national institutions.
“My expectation from the members of these boards is for them to ensure that the NNPC charts a way to face current economic challenges. This will involve a careful look at the ongoing reforms designed to steer the corporation to achieve better performance and efficiency. In addition, you should explore more innovative ways to resolve the joint venture funding constraints and other investment issues,” the president said.
On behalf of the others, Kachikwu thanked Buhari for their appointments and assured that: “The people you’ve appointed are competent, experienced and nationalistic and will do their very best to reduce the burden on your shoulders.”
Addressing State House correspondents later, the NCDMB Executive Secretary Simbi Wabote said: “We’ll come up with a clear Nigerian content blueprint, and everybody will be aware of where we want to be in the next five years.”
