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Interview with Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, Group Managing Director
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
The Rise of a World-Class Integrated Oil and Gas Entity
CN: Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, you have worked for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) since 1976, and have been Group Managing Director since August 2007. What do you consider to be your greatest achievements since joining the NNPC?
Mr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua: The following are highlights of what I would consider some of my achievements during the period:
First, as a young engineer I had the honour to be part of the design and construction of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KPRC) and one major contribution I made at that stage of the development of the refinery was my insistence that the design of the refinery should incorporate a Waste Water Treatment Unit (WWT). I am happy to inform you that because of WWT in the refinery, the environment in and around KPRC has improved. Our concern for the environment did not just start today, we had it in our plans more than three decades ago.
Secondly, as Head of Production Department, Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), I had the honour of having overseen the refinery operated for four years continuously above 94 per cent capacity between 1990 and 1994. If you situate that with the kind of start-stop operations we have now (about 60%), you’d reckon it’s a good measure of achievement.
For us to grow our industry, we need to pay premium on development of local content in the industry. As far as I am concerned, we need to make use of local professionals in carrying out activities they can competently execute within their area of expertise in order to get commensurate value addition of the industry to the national economy.
In 2000, when I moved from Downstream to Upstream operations as MD, IDSL – a company that had then never declared profit since its inception, I carried out structural and strategic re-alignments of its operations and by the year 2002, it posted a profit. This trend continued in 2003.
