The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has sanctioned the immediate splitting of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), into seven independent operational units.

The new units include Upstream, Downstream, Gas & Power, Refineries, Ventures, Corporate Planning & Services and Finance & Accounts.

With this new strategy, the reformed NNPC now consist of business-focused and two service driven units.

However, the new units are to be headed by new Chief Executives and all appointments are to take immediate effect. The Upstream unit will be headed by Bello Rabiu, the Downstrem by Henry Ikem-Obih, Gas and Power by Sa’idu Mohammed, Refining by Anibor Kragha, Ventures by Babatunde Victor Adeniran, the Finance & Accounts unit by Isiaka Abdulrazaq and Corporate Planning & Services by Isa Inuwa.

“The organizational realignment is not about staff layoffs, but about placing the right people in the right places to do the right thing. Our January 2016 Financial and Operations report showed our monthly operating deficits reduce from average of N30bn in August 15 to N3bn in January 16. This is a remarkable decrease of 900% which could only have been achieved by the collective effort of the entire team at NNPC,” NNPC told PM news.

Anita Fatunji