‘It is the most momentous event in my life’ – those were the words of Chief Festus Remilekun Ayodele Marinho, the retired pioneer and unprecedented two times Managing Director (now Group Managing Director) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) when eminent Nigerians filled to capacity the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island to launch his autobiography titled NIGERIA’s PETROLEUM INDUSTRY: A MAVERICK PIONEER’ which is a recollection of his Life, Times and Contributions to Nigeria’s Prosperity. Chief Marinho, Knight of St. Sylvester, the Esere of Uvwie, the Aro Olofin of Ijebu-Ife, Fellow of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society of Nigeria, was born on 30th December, 1934 in Ijebu-Ode.

Chief Marinho attended St. Gregory’s College Obalende, Lagos. He graduated with BSc Special Honours in Physics in 1960 and joined the Public Services as the nation’s second Oil Technologist-in-Training. He proceeded immediately to the Imperial College, London for post-graduate studies in Petroleum Reservoir Engineering from 1960-61. Thereafter, he undertook various practical attachments with International Petroleum and Service Companies. His public service story started fifty years ago in June 1960 (just before Nigeria’s Independence) at the age of 25.

He was one of the three graduates in the five-man team that started the then Hydrocarbon Unit in the Ministry of Mines. Chief F. R. A. Marinho rose rapidly to become, in 1971, the first Deputy Director of Nigeria’s just maturing Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and then the first and only counterpart Director of Petroleum Resources, ever, from 1975- 77. He led the technical team that started up the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (the precursor of NNPC) as its first Manager-in-Charge from 1973- 75. He was appointed the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation at its inauguration on 1st April, 1977.

He had been at the vanguard of the oil industry’s development and growth in Nigeria from its earliest dawn and effectively focused the NNPC as an instrument for the achievement of Government policies. He spear-headed the drafting of Nigeria’s most important Petroleum Laws and Regulations that have existed without major amendments for more than four decades; managed the planning and construction of three refineries within a decade; the construction of an extensive network of products and crude pipelines and petroleum storage depots countrywide within the same time frame; he broke the monopoly of the major multinational products’ marketers in the domestic products’ market by throwing the field open to independent indigenous marketers; drove Nigeria’s aspirations for Nigerianisation, domestication of technical expertise; his relentless effort to commercialise our natural gas resulted in the construction of base-load pipelines to the west and north of Nigeria and set the foundation for the now thriving Natural Gas, liquids and liquefied, middle stream activities.

He contributed significantly to the nation’s interaction with OPEC and to the insurance of Nigeria’s continued relevance, nationally and internationally. His activities were briefly interrupted by the N2.8billion “Oil-gate saga’ with his redeployment and subsequent reinstatement as a second time Managing Director of the NNPC, after the ‘hue and cry’ had been established to be a ‘hoax’ by the Justice Irikefe Judicial Tribunal of Inquiry. Post NNPC, Chief Marinho has played further background roles in the Oil Industry, including serving as Alternative Chairman of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited and the Bonny Gas Transport Company Ltd. He was at one time, Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company and Agip Natural Energy Resources Co and currently a Director of NLPC Pension Fund Administrator. A man with such vast experience no doubt has a lot to put down on paper for posterity and this Chief Festus Remilekun Ayodele Marinho has done.

The launching ceremony of the book which was held at the Institute of International Affairs Conference Centre, Kofo Abayomi, Lagos turned out to be a gathering of who is who in the Oil and Gas Industry - past and present. Speaking at the ceremony, the former Head of State Chief Ernest Shonekan GCFR described Chief Festus Marinho as the Doyen of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria and commended him for publishing his experience for others to learn from it. Chief Shonekan lamented that despite the fact the Oil and Gas Industry is the goose that lays the golden egg, there is a dearth of literature on the industry.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC Engr. Austin Oniwon was represented at the occasion by three Group Executive Directors. Speaking on behalf of the GMD, Mr. Billy Agha, the GED Engineering and Technical while commending the effort of the pioneer Managing Director, urged other ex- Group Managing Directors to emulate Chief Marinho by creating a foundation for younger executives to build on. In his review of the book, Engr. Funsho Kupolokun, a former Group Managing Director of NNPC said that the Nigerian Petroleum Industry owes its might and strategic importance today to the pioneering efforts and vision of Chief Marinho. These include:

All through the book, the results of the efforts of Chief Marinho are evident ranging from the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream Sectors. In concluding the book, Chief Marinho advised that “the oil industry is not a short term enterprise, thus solutions to some of its fundamental questions cannot be taken on the exigencies of the moment but on the basis of longterm projections and expectations”.

Amongst other dignitaries that graced the occasion were representatives of former Heads of State: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Yakubu Gowon, and General Mohammadu Buhari, four past Group Managing Directors of NNPC – Dr. Thomas John, Chief Chamberlain Oyibo, Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki and Engr. Funsho Kupolokun, Managing Directors of the International Oil Companies, Clergy and Traditional Rulers from across the country.