OREANDA-NEWS. August 26, 2014. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha has said that the Corporation under his watch would sustain the ongoing transformation of the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry in order to impact positively on the economy.

Dr. Dawha stated this Wednesday while taking over the baton of leadership from the former GMD, Engr. Andrew Laah Yakubu at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

The New GMD expressed gratitude to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on his appointment and assured that the management under him would find lasting solutions to some of the knotty issues plaguing the petroleum sector.

He applauded Engr. Yakubu for his commitment and dedication to the service of the nation over the last thirty years and wished him well in his future endeavor.

Dr. Dawha solicited for maximum support from the members of staff stressing that the moment has come for the NNPC to impact more on the Nigerian society.

Earlier, the former GMD, Engr. Yakubu thanked the President for the opportunity given him to rise to the pinnacle of his career and congratulated the new GMD on his well-deserved appointment.

Engr. Yakubu described the new GMD of NNPC as a thorough bred professional who has the intellectual capacity to navigate the NNPC and the entire oil industry to the next level.

Before his appointment as GMD, Dr. Dawha was the Group Executive Director for Exploration and Production of the NNPC where he was saddled with the onerous responsibility of repositioning and setting strategic direction for the upstream exploration and production activities of the NNPC.

The new GMD joined the services of the NNPC in 1988 and by dint of hard work and dedication, rose to the rank of Executive Director Commercial Services of Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (now Indorama) Port Harcourt in 2003, from where he was appointed the Managing Director of Integrated Data Services Limited, Benin in 2005.

Dr. Dawha as MD IDSL turned around the fortunes of IDSL which saw it exceeds its target between 2007 and 2010.

The new GMD of NNPC hails from Biu in Borno State and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1977, a Masters of Science in the same discipline in 1985 and a Doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering in 1988.