Nigeria Oil Unrest

ABUJA (AFP) – Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday sacked the head of the country's state-run oil company and replaced him with a former OPEC chief scribe, his office announced.

No reason was given for dropping Abubakar Yar'Adua who has been managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the past 17 months.

He has been replaced by Mohammed Barkindo, a former secretary general of the global oil cartel, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). He was acting secretary general of OPEC in 2006.

Yar'Adua has vowed to reorganise the corruption-ridden and inefficient NNPC into a more productive and commercially viable oil outfit.

Nigeria is one of Africa's leading oil producers.

Crude production now stands at roughly two million barrels a day, compared with 2.6 million in 2006, with Nigeria vying with Angola for the title of Africa's largest oil producer.

The drop in production has largely been blamed on unrest in the southern oil producing Niger Delta where armed militants have over the past three years, attacked oil companies, equipment and staff.


Credits: Associated Press, AFP/File – Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday sacked the head of the country's state-run oil company …