President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of the Executive Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Africa, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, to head Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Kachiku is expected to take over from from Joseph Darwa at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja around 3:00 PM Nigerian time.

Kachikwu, an Executive Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Africa, reportedly met with President Buhari on Monday night to finalise talks on his vision for the state owned corporation, which has been enmeshed in allegations of corruption and dubious accounting practices.

Kachikwu is a distinction graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Nigerian Law School. He has worked as an Investment Attorney in USA, as General Counsel with Texaco Upstream and Downstream in Nigeria and as Executive Vice Chairman of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and General Counsel for ExxonMobil Nigeria affiliate Upstream and Downstream Companies in Nigeria.

He has forayed into business, working as Chairman and CEO of his own Companies in Downstream Petroleum, Law Practice and consultancy and Publishing. He has lectured in Nigeria, at Harvard and various Institutions around the world as either a visiting lecturer or professor in Law.