Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mallam Mele Kyari, on Friday, received the 2021 Vanguard Newspapers Personality of the Year award.
In the citation, Vanguard Newspapers described Kyari’s achievement as unrivaled in the history of the National Oil Company, stating that Kyari was responsible for the Open Government Initiative that ushered in an era of transparency and accountability in the NNPC’s operations.
Kyari, who received the award alongside Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, was said to have kept his promise to the NNPC and Nigeria by increasing the nation’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels, from 37 billion barrels.
The NNPC GMD is also credited for assisting in resolving disputes around deep offshore bloc to further boost the nation’s oil production, and ensuring the successful flag-off of the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project which has been hailed by President Muhammadu Buhari as a game changer for the oil and gas industry, among several other achievements.
