Maikanti Kachalla Baru is an indigene of Bauchi State. He obtained his West African School Certificate in 1978 from the Federal Government College Jos and later bagged a First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1982. He also attended the University of Sussex, United Kingdom where he graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering in 1987.

Between 1988-1991, he held various positions at the Jos Steel Rolling Company Ltd. including Head Corporate Planning and Electrical Department while also serving in several committees in the company.

He was the Manager National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO) from May to November 1991. He became the Manager, Operations of Procurement Management Services (PROMAS) from 1991-1993 where he saved the Corporation over $70 million in six months of operation.

Thereafter, he served in NAPIMS as the Manager Gas Department for four years and in 1997, he was appointed General Manager, Gas Development Division and during his stewardship of the Joint Venture Gas Projects, they were able to save over $575 million.

In July 1999, he was appointed as the Executive Director, Operations of the Nigerian Gas Company, Warri where he was responsible for the smooth operation of all the facilities in the Nigerian Gas Company ensuring uninterrupted gas supply to customers such as NEPA.

He left this position in 2004 and was appointed as the Managing Director Hyson (Nigeria) Ltd and under his stewardship; Hyson was introduced into the domestic LPG business and grew rapidly raking in N24m in 2004, N164m in 2005 and N400m in 2006.

From 2006 to 2007, Dr. M.K Baru was the Group General Manager, Greenfield Refinery Projects Division where he was tasked with ensuring the smooth execution of the feasibility study, design, construction and operation of new refineries in Nigeria.

Following his good work there, he was appointed in 2007, as the Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) where he was responsible for ensuring the effective supervision of the nation’s investment in the upstream of the Nigeria’s oil industry. This covered the six joint ventures, sixty-two production-sharing contracts and other ad-hoc assignments.

Till his appointment as the Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production, Dr. Baru was the Group General Manager LNG Division. In his capacity, he handled the commercial and administrative aspects of the LNG Investment Businesses. He was also the NNPC’s Chief Technical Negotiator on the West African Gas Pipeline project and chaired the NNPC Anti-Corruption Committee.

In March 2016, he was appointed Technical Adviser (Gas Matters) to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and on July 4th 2016, President Muhammad Buhari appointed him as the 17th Group Managing Director of the NNPC.

Dr. Baru has shown academic excellence over the years winning various prizes such as the Shell BP Petroleum Prize for the Best Final Year Mechanical Engineering Student and the Lever Brothers Prize for the Best Final Year Mechanical Engineering Investigation Project at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He has also attended prestigious institutions such as the Harvard Business School, College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Oxford, Columbia University Business School, New York and the Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business among others.