The immediate-past Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, has died. He was 60.
The current GMD of the corporation, Mele Kyari, confirmed the death on his verified Twitter handle, saying he died early on Saturday.
“My brother, my friend and my mentor, Dr Maikanti Kachalla Baru, immediate past GMD of NNPC died late last night. He was of exemplary character and disposition. May Allah forgive him and have mercy upon him,” he tweeted.
A reliable family source also told this newspaper that he died around 1am on Saturday at an Abuja hospital after a brief illness.
Born in July 1959 in Misau, Bauchi State, Baru attended Federal Government College, Jos, for his secondary education where he graduated in 1978.
In 1982, he obtained his bachelor of engineering degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Baru has a doctorate in Computer Aided Engineering from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.
He was appointed NNPC GMD by President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2016, a position he held until 2019 before he was replaced with Kyari.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reconstitution of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), after the expiration of the term of the board members appointed in 2016.
Members of the new Board are: Mohammed Lawal (North West), Tajudeen Umar (North East), Adamu Mahmood Attah (North Central), Senator Magnus Abe (South South), Dr Stephen Dike (South East) and Chief Pius Akinyelure (South West).
Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement on Saturday explained that the new board will be in place for three years.
