At the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the federal government has quietly been conducting a number of appointments and promotions involving top management officials. A top source at the Corporation told the Daily Trust on Sunday last week that the exercise, which began recently after the Buhari administration assumed office, was being done to correct some identified instances of lopsidedness in appointments and promotions, harmonise industrial relations, and appropriately position the national oil regulator, with highly competent hands, to cope with the changes desired by the Buhari administration.
In the exercise done so far, the Southern zone of the country has been the greater beneficiary in the appointments and promotions. A document in possession of the Daily Trust on Sunday shows that out of the 11 appointments listed in the official gazette as approved, 10 candidates were from the South, while only one was from the North.
A breakdown of the appointments reveals that the Southeast zone produced the highest number of four candidates, while the Southsouth and Southwest produced three each. The Northwest zone produced only one, while none came from the Northeast and Northcentral.
The document also shows that 49 top management staff were promoted. Of the lot, the South produced 31, or 62.3 per cent. Broken down, the Southwest has the lion’s share of 12 senior managers, followed by the Southeast with 11. The Southsouth and Northeast boast eight each, while the Northcentral and Northwest also have five each.
There has also been a number of redeployments. A total of nine top management staff have been moved without being promoted, six of them from the North. The Northwest is mostly affected in this category with five of its indigenes redeployed.
Thirty-eight top management staff of the NNPC have been recently retired as the Corporation’s new leadership strives to cleanse its system. Twenty of the retired hands, mainly top management staff of the NNPC and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), were said to have been sacked allegedly for corrupt practices.
The source who spoke to the Daily Trust on Sunday said President Muhammadu Buhari has given the NNPC leadership a firm instruction that appointments and promotions in the Corporation should be done strictly on merit and without any favouritism, while addressing any identified lopsidedness.
President Buhari has come under flak lately over his recent appointment of six key public officials, five of them from the North. Last week, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had issued a statement announcing the appointment of Mr Babachir David Lawal as Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Lawal is from Adamawa State.
Also appointed were retired Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Bauchi State), Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service; Mr Kure Martin Abeshi (Nasarawa State), Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service; Alhaji Abba Kyari (Borno State), Chief of Staff; and Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu (Kano State), Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (House of Representatives). The sixth appointee, Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant, National Assembly matters (Senate), hails from Akwa Ibom state.
As criticisms trail the appointments, a voice in the Presidency, who pleaded anonymity, pointed at developments in the NNPC as one definition of the president’s policy direction on appointments which, he said, focuses on merit, integrity and broad-mindedness. Defending the president’s latest appointments last Thursday, Mr Adesina stated that every zone of the country would be well represented in federal appointments, as would especially be seen when the president releases the names of ministerial nominees next month as expected.
The recent round of appointments, promotions, redeployments and dismissals at the NNPC was part of the restructuring process embarked upon by the new NNPC Group Managing Director, Engineer Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who President Buhari brought in to replace Dr Joseph Dahwa.
In the new Kachikwu dispensation, President Buhari fired nine of the 16 managing directors of the strategic business units (SBUs) of the NNPC. Those affected included Haruna Momoh, who was the Managing Director of the PPMC; Anthony U. Muoneke, boss of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) Engr Jonathan Kwame Okehs.
In their stead, the president approved the appointments of Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue as the new Managing Director of the PPMC, Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director of NPDC; and Mr Babatunde Bakare as chief of the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC).
Also appointed were Engr Chinedu Ezeribe, MD, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Mr Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, MD, Hydrocarbon Services Company Nigeria Ltd (HYSON); Mr Ladipo Fagbola, head the NNPC Retail; Mr Rowland Ewubare, MD, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Mr Modupe Bammeke, MD, NNPC Properties; and Mr Abdulkadir Saidu, MD, Duke Oil, a subsidiary of the NNPC, among other appointments.
The government also appointed four new Group Executive Directors (GEDs), after retiring eight GEDs and subsequently trimming the number from eight to four

http://dailytrust.com.ng/news/news/-nnpc-appointments-under-buhari-favour-south/108629.html

Ok

am getting tired of north south division

You wouldn't find the senseless PDPians in threads like this.

Aha