Delta Governor, Sen. (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, has felicitated with his Sokoto State counterpart and Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, as he turned 55 on Sunday. He also felicitated with Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, on his 56th birthday.
He said that for the period he had been in public service, Tambuwal had made sterling contributions to the socio-economic and political development of Sokoto State and Nigeria, adding that such efforts were worthy of inspiration to the younger generation.
According to Okowa in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, in Asaba, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives has brought his wealth of experience to bear in the development of Sokoto State, especially in the education and road transport sectors.
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He stated that Tambuwal was a nationalist, whose selfless and impressive political disposition had placed him ahead of his contemporaries.
“The people of Sokoto State are no doubt, reaping the benefit of trusting you to lead the state for a second term as can be seen in the monumental achievements in infrastructural development of your state under your astute leadership.
“As Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, you have provided leadership and direction to a virile opposition party ready to return Nigeria on the path of greatness in 2023.
“On behalf of my family, the government and people of Delta, I congratulate a gentleman of candour and unassailable integrity, a leading light of this generation, an astute politician of our time and a courageous democrat, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on his 55th birth anniversary.
“For your sagacity and doggedness, you have become a household name and an emerging nationalist in the contemporary politics of Nigeria,” he said.
Kyari at 56
Okowa said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, in Asaba, that Kyari was a dedicated professional who had contributed tremendously to the growth of Nigeria’s oil industry.
He remarked that the NNPC chief was an outstanding administrator, whose reforms at the corporation culminated to, among others, the attainment of 1.5 Billion Standard Cubic Feet production per day and its equity production at 1.38 billion cubic feet of gas per day as at November, 2020.
“Mallam Kyari’s leadership at the NNPC as its 19th chief executive has been largely characterized by outstanding vision in commitment to efficiency, openness, transparency and prudence in service delivery geared at attaining the objectives of the corporation and meeting the expectations of shareholders.
“The NNPC and its joint venture partners under his leadership have continued to contribute to poverty reduction, economic and social development, especially in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic,” he stated.
The governor commended Kyari for his Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda which, he said, had seen NNPC become profitable after many years of controversies surrounding oil productions and earnings.
“Let me commend Mallam Kyari and his team for what they are doing to improve on the operations of the NNPC.
“Kyari has continued to demonstrate transparency and accountability by publishing the monthly operational report of the NNPC, with a step further of publishing its annual audited financial statement, which had not been done in 43 years of its operations.
“Worthy of commendation is the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the four billion dollar-NLNG Train7 and his continued drive towards completing long-standing gas infrastructure projects such as the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System Phase 2 and Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline,” he said.
