By Chidi Obineche
Nigeria is on fire, in a hail storm. Not for reverberating advances and feats, but for a stunning cut in transactional clarity in the oil sector, the honey pot and sweepstakes of the economy. A little over three weeks ago, the name Maikanti Baru was not very lip friendly; it tied the tongues and twisted the mouths in rhapsody of different rhythms. Today, his name enjoys a prolific hilarity, a sing- song of the market place. He has come with a measured stamp of strange familiarity on almost everyone else’s cloud.
Maikanti Baru, the ebullient Group Managing Director, GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC is the new fire- eating whiz kid, the new stud in a time of a unique change, a beautiful gift in a rainbow. His defiance, methods and rationale will never suggest a storm never happened or that all involved are not dealing with its aftermath. It means that something heady appeared to rock its way in the midst of doubts and hope. He throbs in a glorious mess, and like Robert Frost in the old American Poem, The Road Not Taken trudged on “the less travelled road” and that has made a lot of difference.
He is telling awe stricken Nigerians that stars can’t shine without darkness. As students, we are learning at his feet that a governing board for an octopus counts nothing; that it can be turned to a lame duck; that under the table, in the sewage or right between the sheets contracts of any amount can be spirited out with due diligence, still. It is his burden, his cross and not your lollipop. You can’t sneeze and pee at the same time. As a pathfinder, he puts the needs of his birthfather above the wants of his birthplace. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the home.
He has sparked an oil rage and dared the spillage. He has broken the rails of reason and unreason. He has wrestled with lies and reflective change and created a pathway of newspeak to narrow the range of thought. He holds the Rocker Box where all things beautiful and ugly are groomed and smashed. He has worked with the sweet rendition of the famous Eagles musical group “the dance to remember, and some dance to forget”. Ferreting out $25B without a bang but a whimper is for yeomen. Under this specter can shadows fall and descent begins. He is the new reason for the long days, and perhaps the evolving short years, and the growing tempest in the land. Though he seemingly plods alone but if no one is with him in bed, the night will be hard to get through.
Having set the hand on the plough it is hard as hell to step away from the ledge. Defiance in all patterns can get daringly hot when there is protective armour, a knight in glistening splendor and a rock- solid cordon. In dispatch, this episode warns with the words of J.K Rowling that “anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerves”. His defiance, bulldozing adroitness and all odds spring a trial of strength and the cult of the disinterested life. There are things Baru will be contented to know. Things like the good faith at the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering power. That the “Soul has no secret that the behavior does not reveal” – Lao Tzu. And that the tiger can sniff the rose in Kachikwu. And yet we can’t break the shackles for change if our hands are full of yesterday’s junk. Perhaps, the soothing words from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why A Caged Bird Sings which states that “ There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you” will suffice.
Born in July, 1957, he attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in Kaduna state where he obtained Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) with a first class honours. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering. He has worked in various capacities in both the Upstream and Downstream sectors of the NNPC. He has been the chairman of the NNPC Anti- Corruption Committee since September 2004 and has relentlessly sensitized staff on obligations and laws that govern corruption and corrupt practices. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and a recipient of the Presidential Merit Award of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers. He is married with children.