Anxiety and disquiet has pervaded the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) ahead of the expected shake-up of the corporation by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Already, competent sources told New Mail correspondent in Abuja Wednesday night that some top management staff are already quietly easing themselves out of the corporation, long before the expected long knife.
For instance, the corporation’s Legal Services and Company Secretary Ikechukwu Oguine resigned Wednesday, while the fate of the corporation’s Deputy Group Managing Director/ Group Executive Director (Finance and Account) Bernard Otti remained unclear Wednesday night, following his sudden trip abroad immediately after the inauguration of the President.
A source however said that Otti was away for medical reasons.
Our correspondent further learnt that more officers may retire or voluntarily withdraw their services from NNPC to beat the imminent purge, though an official said there was no cause for panic in the corporation.
Fears of a massive purge have gripped top managers of the NNPC, the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) over the controversial crude oil swap.
“Some top management staff of NNPC and its subsidiaries have opted to leave the system ahead of the likely reorganisation of the corporation by the President.
“Some of those affected include a few in high-profile offices, who were engaged by the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, against the provisions of the NNPC Act,” a source within the corporation said.
The source, who pleaded not to be named because of “the sensitivity” of the matter, however, did not name such “backdoor” employees, but said that “There are some professionals who also do not want their career rubbished by the looming shake-up of the sector by Buhari.
“The NNPC company secretary has resigned and he even paid three months salaries in lieu of notice. He said he wants to go back to his consultancy firm if he does not find the environment challenging.
“Actually, he gave himself a year target to take stock of things in NNPC and having been appointed on April 7, 2014, he decided to leave on personal grounds,” the source said.
However, Otti, according to some NNPC sources, took a sick leave; others merely said he had not been seen in office since Buhari was inaugurated as President.
Before the inauguration, there had been arguments on the legality of Otti’s appointment. “There had been unease in NNPC over Otti’s office. The appointment of a Deputy Group Managing Director is unknown to NNPC statute; it is illegal and whatever document or contract the man had signed as a holder of this office is untenable in law.
“The management staff have been having a sort of cold war because it is an aberration to combine the post of Group Executive Director, Finance and Account and the office of Deputy GMD.”
A source close to Otti however insisted that “He went for medical check-up; he should be back on Thursday. But his job does not suffer because someone is acting for him.”
Some members of the management staff, who are believed to have been brought into the system through the backdoor, may leave before the proposed purge.
“More staff may go to beat Buhari to the game. They have also realised that they cannot fit into the system because they don’t have the technical capability.
“A few others who are linked to the crude oil swap in PPMC and NPDC may leave. In fact, some of them in NPDC have not been coming regularly to office. We operate in fear because we do not know the type of reforms the President may initiate.”
Another NNPC source said Oguine was on a year contract that elapsed last month.
“Oguine has a consulting firm he ran in the United Kingdom before his appointment.
“On the expiration of the contract, he chose to go back to UK to join his family and face his private consultancy firm wholly. The board of NNPC even offered to renew his appointment but he preferred to go back to his private business. There was no problem,” the source added.
Otti, according to the source, went to the United States to treat his eyes and will be back to office this week. The source also noted that there was no panic in the corporation as the board just sat Tuesday and there was no information about officials who intend to resign before new appointments are made by the new government.
“There is also no information on any planned major shake-up in the corporation by the Federal Government,” the source added.
President Buhari has on many occasions vowed to probe the NNPC. During the campaigns, he promised to probe the $20 billion alleged to be missing from the coffers of the oil giant by Emir of Kano Muhammed Sanusi, a claim he made when he was the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.
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