It is petty and pathetic for you to blame your "almosts" on any particular tribe. Nigerian leaders and youth from all around the country irrespective of tribe and religion can be fantastically corrupt.
Because I understand there's a Quota system policy in place in Nigeria and it's only normally for the Region that's is larger and more populated to be more represented in the system.
It is equally as pathetic and petty for one tribe to blame another tribe because the other tribe affects there chances to "Japa".
I was involved in the last nnpc recruitment in 2019 and I have my almost sorry too but I will be damned and foolish to blame my "almosts" on anybody else.
And to clear the air, I think People from the North are not less intelligent than people from the south. The difference in literacy between the North and South is not as a result of difference in intelligence but as a result of difference in Oppurtunity and commitment of the LEADERS of each region to Education.
It is a matter of personal experience. I attended a Unity school in Abj and a Malo guy came first from JSS1 to SS3 even though Malo guys came last all through too. Lol.

Tamms:


Lmao!! I tire o! I have said it, this recruitment is another nnpc recruitment.. GUYS MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIVES!!! It’s been 2 years!!! Who does recruitment for 2 years?? Only in Nigeria we see this rubbish!!!

Wow! You have been saying this for a while now. Wow! I think now is the next best time to heed to your advice. We have chosen to move on, thank you.
[/b]For others with the "move on" advice, let this serve as "we" having agreed to move on[b]
We thank y'all.
Cheers

Imels:


All these una big grammar no dey help us.. Is Ncdmb recruitment still alive yes or No??

Lmao!! I tire o! I have said it, this recruitment is another nnpc recruitment.. GUYS MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIVES!!! It’s been 2 years!!! Who does recruitment for 2 years?? Only in Nigeria we see this rubbish!!!

SatB:


You would be better off if you debunk the rumour that :

"The rumour behind the cancellation of nnpc EH component of the 2019/2020 recruitment was that it favoured more candidates from the Southern part of the country". This does not even catch the sense of a sane man.

Imagine you are working in an organization and it is time for you to be promoted, but instead, your organization decided to hire someone from outside to take care of that position which you were meritoriously due to be be promoted to ; as an internal staff how would you feel..?

Recall that the very said recruitment was initiated by one GMD but concluded by another different GMD and this is exactly where the issue is.

Pls. master the dots before trying to connect them next time.

Good Morning all.

Be ready to defend NCDMB as well when they decide to remain incommunicado for ever!

Moh247:
Tell Buhari that...

Common EFCC recruitment, Buhari pack almost all the slot to Katsina, same as nnpc recruitment where he gave his own daughter a position

But you’ve been supporting GMB and is still supporting Escobat now.

Tell Buhari that...

Common EFCC recruitment, Buhari pack almost all the slot to Katsina, same as nnpc recruitment where he gave his own daughter a position

Munamoqel:
people that join nnpc ,NLNG ,IOC,MNC ,Teir 1 banks Custom,politics , Hospitality business , Federal civil service .now owned houses (fully paid ),cars and even pay tuition for Ward oversea too .

Is it a fair recruitment process to be employed in any of these organizations you are mouthing off? Is it not rigged?

In anycase that N24m will be worth N18m at the end of the year because of inflation. How do you save and plan in such an economy?

SatB:


You would be better off if you debunk the rumour that :

"The rumour behind the cancellation of nnpc EH component of the 2019/2020 recruitment was that it favoured more candidates from the Southern part of the country". This does not even catch the sense of a sane man.

Imagine you are working in an organization and it is time for you to be promoted, but instead, your organization decided to hire someone from outside to take care of that position which you were meritoriously due to be be promoted to ; as an internal staff how would you feel..?

Recall that the very said recruitment was initiated by one GMD but concluded by another different GMD and this is exactly where the issue is.

Pls. master the dots before trying to connect them next time.

Good Morning all.

I do respect your opinion but I beg to differ on the bolded. If Mele Kyari knew he would be opting for the contract staff rather than the EH applicants then he should have truncated the exercise at the interview stage. I was invited for the interview and I was lucky enough to be schedule for Saturday(some EHs were scheduled during work days), however, I had to travel on Friday evening to Abuja after work. I expended over 100k on accommodation and transportation just to go for the interview and return back. At the end, we did not even get a snippet of feedback on the outcome of the interview. If that is not ineptitude, I wonder what is. Some people even came from outside the country for the interview, so you can imagine how much expenses they must have borne. Truth is most of the recruitment into Federal government agencies especially the ones that pay above average income are highly politicized and this make it extremely difficult to complete transparently. In fact, I would not be surprised(though I genuinely wish it to be completed) if this NCDMB tow the same line.

Hessian:
The rumour behind the cancellation of nnpc EH component of the 2019/2020 recruitment was that it favoured more candidates from the Southern part of the country. Wether true or false, it did not see the light of the day. As for the NCDMB recruitment, it doesn't even make sense from the onset!

You would be better off if you debunk the rumour that :

"The rumour behind the cancellation of nnpc EH component of the 2019/2020 recruitment was that it favoured more candidates from the Southern part of the country". This does not even catch the sense of a sane man.

Imagine you are working in an organization and it is time for you to be promoted, but instead, your organization decided to hire someone from outside to take care of that position which you were meritoriously due to be be promoted to ; as an internal staff how would you feel..?

Recall that the very said recruitment was initiated by one GMD but concluded by another different GMD and this is exactly where the issue is.

Pls. master the dots before trying to connect them next time.

Good Morning all.

The rumour behind the cancellation of nnpc EH component of the 2019/2020 recruitment was that it favoured more candidates from the Southern part of the country. Wether true or false, it did not see the light of the day. As for the NCDMB recruitment, it doesn't even make sense from the onset!

Attahir180:
As nnpc limited is unveiled today, we hope NCDMB will conclude this recruitment as soon as possible so that we can give our quota in the decade of gas project. May we be among the successful ones. I believe the conclusion of this recruitment is close.

Amin

As nnpc limited is unveiled today, we hope NCDMB will conclude this recruitment as soon as possible so that we can give our quota in the decade of gas project. May we be among the successful ones. I believe the conclusion of this recruitment is close.

Towma:


Even the recruitment I heard it's underground a lot of times. I saw on this thread that they took in new staff last week without announcing vacancy.

nnpc last week on this platform?? Sure

Moh247:


nnpc Kanuris, Ministry of defence. Kanuri, Army Kanuri

Boko haram and ISWAP Kanuri

Buhari has a soft spot for Kanuris. His mother was one.

The Buhari is fluent in Kanuri but can't speak Fulani as Fulani is only taught from mother to child.

There is even speculations that Buhari lobbied to be NE governor under Gowon but was removed by Danjuma after the Dimka coup . Murtala still maintained buhari as governor of the NE.

Danjuma wanted him retired as a staff officer with no troops under his control but Obasanjo decided to placate Buhari with Minister of the new petroleum industry after Obasanjo rightly picked Shehu Yaradua (senior brother to late Musa Yaradua) to placate the Fulani over the loss of Murtala. For this Yaradua , who planned and overthrew Gowon for Murtala was promoted from Lt Colonel to Lt General and made deputy chairman of the Supreme Military Council. Danjuma warned Obasanjo on picking Buhari for any command position or as supreme governor of the vast NE states comprising of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe that accounted for close to 30% of Nigeria's land mass. Danjuma knew that Buhari had a vast network of highly placed civilians in the NE and saw this as a potent danger .

Obasanjo, in a secret handover letter to the newly sworn in democratically elected civilian adminstration, Shagari advising him to do away with the current top military brass over their checkered history of getting involving with coups and politics. Shagari was advised by a retinue of northern traditional and Islamic elders to ignore Obasanjo and use the opportunity to consolidate the military into the hands of the Khaliphate and not purge the officers as adviced by Obasanjo. Note that Danjuma, a northern Christian from the minority Jukum tribe tasked Gowon to demobilise the military of its highly unprofessional and undisciplined war recruits drawn mainly from the Christian middle belt. Danjuma saw Gowon keeping an unfit tribally skewed army as reasons to remain perpertially in power. At independence, the armed forces accounted less fhag 2% of the country's budget with a total man oower of less than 5,000 officers and recruits but by 1975, it had bloated to over 200,000 and cost the govt 40% of its total budget to pay mostly salaries. Murtala could only strike when Gowon was absent from the country as any atempt to overthrow Gowon would have been met with swift and brutal resistance by his personal guards who were all drawn from among the Christian northern tribes.

Danjuma will prevail on Murtala to demobilise the military but the majority Christian northern men and officers forced to retire saw this as a de Christianization. Those who were not forced to resign where overlooked in both promotions and appointments. IBB and Dimka were both Majors at the time of the coup and also very fond of each other. IBBB was promoted by Murtala to Colonel and appointed to the Supreme Military Council. At this time , Danjuma was deprived of any command position and appointed as Chief of Defense Staff heading the Guards Brigade located then in VI.

Murtala was not fooling anyone with his demobilization agenda as all Christian officers noticed that there was recruitment of Fulani and Hausa Muslims to replace the mass exodus of northern recruits. Danjuma will come to regret his agitation on Gowon to demobilise the army. Shagari continued the mass recruitment of Northern Muslims and thought he had the loyalty of his majority northern Muslim generals. - he was dead wrong! Buhari and IBB will continue the islamization of the armed forces but Abacha who was wary of mahdist tendencies among the religious class of the north halted recruitments for northern Muslims whose loyalty he rightly stated belong to those outside or serving within the military that facilitated their recruitment. Abacha will start mass recruitment of Tivi, Jukum, Jos, Idoma and Igala men into the military .

Obasanjo came back and sacked the political soldiers and for the first time peace reigned in the army and Obasanjo made recruitment slots equal for every state requiring letter of introduction from the governor of the state or Senator.

Buhari came back and sacked most of this obasanjo era officers and started again the Fulani agenda to dominate the armed forces hitherto which was a broad non tribal campaign to put only northern Muslims irrespective of tribe into the Army. Buhari also extended this gesture to his maternal tribes men of Kanuri stock.

Dikebuka:


When you sale that same refinery to competent private hands, it comes to life.

Former nnpc fertilizer and petrochemicals ph was junk until it was sold to Indorama (Indian company).

Today now it is one of the biggest supplier of fertilizer in Africa..infact it even erected a new facility that led to recruitment as of 2019.

With good government policies, Infrastructure is as useless as p in psychology.

That is why I said many of you don't know the problem of this country, Obasanjo sold these refinary to private investor some years back but who are the people that criticize him an when he left Yaradua have to collect it back an this is where we are today. So the problem of this country is very deep than just a mere economic analysis.

Golan007:


A bad refinery isn't infrastructure.

It's a piece of junk.

When you sale that same refinery to competent private hands, it comes to life.

Former nnpc fertilizer and petrochemicals ph was junk until it was sold to Indorama (Indian company).

Today now it is one of the biggest supplier of fertilizer in Africa..infact it even erected a new facility that led to recruitment as of 2019.

With good government policies, Infrastructure is as useless as p in psychology.

FIDEO of Da interview Or ADONBILIVIT

sarrki:
THIS TINUBU INTERVIEW IS A MASTERSTROKE‼️

Q: Were you tempted to stay back in the US after your studies?

A: To be honest with you, yes. I was lucky when I got to Chicago State University. I entered the university with honours from the Richard Daley College, because I got credit in majority of the Accounting courses.

After the first term, I was one of the candidates on the Dean’s list and my professor, Joe Jesse, commended me for my hard work, class participation and brilliance. He said that I would be lucky if I could keep my activities and brilliant results up till the end of the term. He didn’t say more or in what form the luck would manifest.

At the end of the term, and still on the Dean’s list, Professor Jesse came around to inform me that he would employ me to manage the Accounting laboratory for the institution. He gave the letter of employment to the dean of the faculty. The following week, I was called upon to take up employment as a tutor in the institution because I was very good at Mathematics and Accounting. I met Tunde Badejo in the school; he was a year ahead of me. But I told him (we took a bet) that we would graduate the same year and he didn’t believe. Later, when I was given a scholarship to become a tutor, I took the letter to Tunde Badejo and said: ‘See, the school is paying my tuition.’ He was amazed. That was how I became a tutor, with my tuition being paid. Tunde Badejo majored in Mathematics, and having been challenged, his performance got better the following semester and he also became a Maths tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. I was challenged and severely under pressure to keep up the grade as each semester rolled by, because if my grades should drop I would lose the scholarship. It was quite challenging and in the end, I graduated top of my class and I was recruited as an Accounting major. There were big accounting firms then. Touche was number nine. I was recruited. And I still got other job offers. Then there were eight big accounting firms in the United States, including Arthur Andersen , Arthur Young, Ernst and Whinney, Peat Marwick and Mitchell, Deloitte and others. Out of the big eight, five of them offered me jobs and that was school recruitment–right on the campus.

I was on the Dean’s list; I was in line for the award for the overall best counting student as well as that of the university scholar’s award. With that, the big firms would continue to woo you. Despite the five job offers, I was equally offered employment by IBM and others. Professor Jesse called me and advised that I should not be arrogant. He asked that I remove my name from the career placement centre because, according to him, the more they saw my grades, the more I would be sought after. He said that might hinder other accounting graduates from being recruited and that the faculty wanted as many accounting graduates as possible to be recruited by the big companies. So I went and removed it. Usually, there was a benchmark for recruitments by the big professional accounting firms and they didn’t go beneath that. I got an offer of $20,000, with travelling allowances and all that. It was big money for me at the time.

But when Arthur Young saw the money I was offered, they offered an additional $3,000. My adviser told me to consider an offer that would make me function effectively in my country, particularly given that the country is blessed with crude oil. I wondered what I would be coming back to do. The career placement officer called me again and asked me what I wanted to do. I said they just spoke to me from my department.

Unlike what happens here, universities in America prepare the students for the future; how to dress, how to face job interviews. The third day after that, Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, now Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group, gave me another offer. They said they were not just going to hire me, but develop me. They asked me to take the salary I was being offered or forget about the job. I went back to Professor Jesse and said: ‘Look at what these people are offering, I would rather go to Arthur Andersen because they were offering to pay more’. But he said that I should not. He said he had always advised me that my career and professional development were more important. He said Delloite had clients like General Motors, Procter and Gamble, National Oil and worked with Aramco Exxon, etc. He said I should consider that my country has crude oil and I might want to return someday. He said I should consider a firm with clients in anufacturing and oil sectors than Arthur Andersen, which only dealt with financial institutions and banks.

I took to his advice. I resumed work at Deloitte training school in June 1979. By April 1979, when I was graduating, I had gotten my future charted. And that was the greatest thing I achieved in America.

Tunde Badejo was still looking for a job. As a honours student, I was there at the high table with the Dean, President of the college and so on, while the rest of the graduands were on the lower platform. So, when they called my friend, Tunde Badejo’s name, he refused to get up because they mispronounced his name and called him ‘Tunde Badeho’. He refused to get up. I was laughing at him from the high table and was saying: ‘You see, I told you we would graduate at the same time.’ I later stood from where I was seated and whispered to the event handler that his name is Badejo and not Badeho. It was not until they called the name correctly that he stood up.

Q: Why did you opt to study Accounting?

A: Sincerely, it was accidental. It was the university placement. I was good in Mathematics and business courses. In fact, if I were to choose a career for myself, I would have chosen marketing. I know Tunde was placed in the Mathematics department also by the university. I came in with A grades and I had nothing less than A+ in Accounting and Statistics.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

At Deloitte and Touche, I chose to travel more than 80 per cent of my working years there. And that is because if a staff chose to travel, he would make more money because he would get travel allowances. That got me into National Oil, which became the Joint Venture Partner of Aramco Oil in Saudi Arabia, which is like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We had gone there to set up their accounting and auditing system. It was while on that service that I got my financial break. When I returned to the United States, my employers gave me a huge bonus, which instantly turned me into a millionaire.

Q: How much was that?

A: The bonus was $850,000, before taxes. My salaries were also being paid into the bank and I was not touching them. At the time, my salary deposits in the bank had risen to about $1.8 million.

Q: You didn’t freak out?

A: No. This is because I had a strong grasp of financial matters. I was happy. I bought a house from the money and invested the rest in the US. I was living well. I was living in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the south of Chicago.

Q: Chicago had the notoriety of being a mafia city. How did you survive there?

A: Chicago was a very dangerous place then, if you didn’t know where to go and how to move. I wouldn’t want to mention some people I knew, whose careers were ruined and got lost in the process. I could still remember some of my colleagues, who did very well. One of them is Kunle Adedayo, whose wife, Pamela, operates the Tastee Fried Chicken. We were there together. Pamela had been a good cook since then. She used to cook for us.

My school, Richard Daley College, was located in an area noted for racism. Though there were other colleges I could go, I was determined to go there and succeed. The school was academically rigorous and maintained high discipline. Of course, the story has been told severally of the area where Martin Luther King was chased out and shot at. Blacks dreaded the area. Chicago was a windy, cold place. I was able to capitalise on it for academic success and achievement. Though the minimum requirement was 12 credits, I registered for extra course work. I was not getting a dime from Nigeria any longer because my tuition fee was already paid for, and whatever money I realised was meant to cushion the effect of my house rent. Winter time was the busiest time for me and Tunde Badejo, who I was sharing an apartment with.

Since I lost the earlier job at the construction site, I didn’t like security or doorman jobs anymore. I was a very neat guy and was always well-dressed at the place where I was working as a dishwasher in a Holiday Inn. I also got a job for Bolaji Agaba there. In the hotel, I was able to keep warm. And I was later given a room service job because I was very diligent in my previous work. That was acknowledged by those who would come to check on us where we washed the dishes.

Room service is very good; you get nice tips! I did all of that and didn’t take a penny from anybody in Nigeria to go to school in Chicago. Not a dime! I was a self-educated person and I achieved the best in that respect.

Q: Who were the white and African-Americans you interacted with at school and after?

A: Danny Kay Davies, now a Congressman; Jesse Jackson, Costello Joe, one of the most successful financial consultants; Richard Daley III, a stockbroker who became the mayor of Chicago and whose father the school was named after; Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, etc. There were too many of them.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

A: At the National Oil, where we set up the accounting system and at Aramco, I was head of an assignment to liquidate the Chicago Savings and Loans Bank. The assignment was meant to take me to different places, so as to gain exposure to financial services. It is usually a hostile environment when a company is under receivership and is going into liquidation. But I managed the assignment very well. A member of Deloitte’s management, who was a principal partner on the assignment, was very happy.

At the end of that assignment, I was recalled to the National Oil, which had a joint venture with other oil companies. The United States government had a 300-page new leasing legislation at the time. This is one moment of my life I can never forget. The leasing regulation was a subject of tax implication and analysis, and as an auditing firm, we had to interpret the new leasing legislation for compliance. And that was necessary before the client could sign the balance sheet.

It was a tough debate. The managers would sit; we had to make presentations and contributions. My colleagues and I did two aspects of the lease and I happened to be right. When the partners and all of them came and they did the computation, it gave the company an additional opportunity to wiggle and improve its bottom line. So one of National Oil’s assistant controllers left there to work at Mobil. On getting there, he began to persuade me to come over to Mobil.

The period coincided with my vacation in Nigeria and during that time, the late Bade Ojora and other people I knew were in Mobil. They saw me in Lagos and we discussed generally. At the time, I met someone who was in the finance department at my uncle’s place and the man thought I was a wizard when we were talking.

I later went to Ibadan to see an uncle of mine. But before then, my return ticket had been stolen in Lagos. I had a credit card. I was lamenting the loss, when Uncle Bade said he would help in getting me a passport. Then he asked if I would work for Mobil, but I said I was not ready to stay in Nigeria because I was very successful and earning a good salary. He asked me to leave my telephone number so he could get in touch with me afterwards.

The professional career placement centres, which we called head hunters, had placed my curriculum vitae in other companies. They would continue to pursue you, asking whether you wanted to change your job. I was invited by General Telephone and Electronics, GTE, Corporation and they offered a salary that was 32 per cent higher than what I was earning at Deloitte. I went there and was made an assistant manager, but MacGross didn’t leave me alone, asking why I elected to work for a telephone and electronics company. He said: ‘You will be discriminated against there; I know that firm.’ But I didn’t listen to him. I was chasing the title of manager. My career was blossoming. It was great to have a complimentary card carrying the title, manager. When the time came for a review, they promoted someone whom I trained to the position of manager, while I was left the way I was. I resigned that very day. That was when I decided that one day, I would return to my country.

Q: What year was that?

A: That was in 1985/1986. I was determined to return to Nigeria someday. I contemplated returning to Deloitte and at the same time coming back to Nigeria. I was discriminated against. I quit GTE. I decided to go back to Deloitte. While I was still contemplating, Deloitte was relocating from New York and I looked forward to how I would be given extra allowances and bonuses.

At that time also, Mobil was recruiting for its Corporate Audit Department in the United Kingdom office. I went there and I got the offer. The rest is history.

Q: Was Bade Ojora in Mobil at that time?

A: He was still in Mobil. I don’t want to go through what I did when I was in the Corporate Office in London. I was a corporate auditor, but I was a whiz-kid, an assertive one, highly professional. I was always in suspenders and all that. I came on assignment to audit Mobil Nigeria.

Q: Were you recruited abroad and sent here?

A: No. I was recruited in the UK. That was Mobil Foreign; it is completely different from Nigerian operation. They have the audit right, the corporate audit regulation to audit Nigeria. I came and they said they needed an auditor in Nigeria. I went through the process.

Solomon Oladunni was the manager in charge of administration. He, Bade Ojora and Adesanya persuaded me to take the job. The title I was looking for was audit manager. They said I did not have any experience in Nigeria. I faced another level of discrimination. I was given an offer they knew I would reject, but I was determined to stay. The financial controller, a white man, called me to his office to say :”the people there didn’t want you; your own countrymen!’ He added: ‘Whatever they give you, take it, I’m here.’ I was shocked.

At the time, there was a kind of connection between the director of finance and one guy. They were both from Shagamu. And as it played out, I was only made an auditor because they said I didn’t have a Nigerian experience.

Q: But you rose to become the treasurer…

A: I rose to become the general auditor there.
The audit manager, an Australian, was about leaving for his country and he told me that I was badly needed, particularly because I am a Nigerian. He said: “With this resume, you are so rich, you have experience. I know what Alphonso Olusanya, the financial controller, was trying to do.” He added that the other person they wanted to bring in has only local experience (I don’t want to mention his name because he is my friend).

Q: And the money was not bad, but only the title…

A: The money was not bad. I took the offer to work in Mobil because I was tired of the discrimination I suffered overseas and had made up my mind that I would not work for any other company but an American company. I was encouraged to join their team and I met Oladunni, Pius Akinyelure, all of them. The whiteman told me to just come over and prove myself and that I would “get there”. He had been the supervisor of the guy blocking me overseas. And when the whiteman came to Nigeria, they did not give him the title, too. He said: ‘Here, I am financial adviser; I don’t care what title they give me, I am getting my salary and I have my responsibilities to New York. Don’t worry.”

Q: Apart from this initial discrimination that you confronted, what other challenges did you face?

A: The system was poor. I met a very disorganized work environment here. I really did a lot to prove myself. I faced a lot of challenges, but my training and my background from the United States helped my career. I wrote so many audit queries and reports.

Q: We learnt that you wrote one that caused an earthquake!

A: There were so many of them. I wrote one on Bob Eriksson, who was the Chairman/Managing Director. He was weak in his corporate control of the finances of Mobil and I boldly wrote the report based on that. And here was the Chairman/Managing Director, who was affected by the report. Everybody raised an eyebrow. But I emphasised that I was an independent auditor. I said: ‘This is my report, this is my resignation letter.’ I sent a copy of the report to the head office in New York. I wanted to strengthen my independence and professionalism.

The third day, a signal came from New York. The managing director was to be recalled and the corporate audit manager was on his way to check the report. When he came, I had my audit file. All the findings in the report and my recommendations were accepted. They recalled the MD/Chairman and he was demoted. The company rejected my letter of resignation and promoted me general auditor.

Q: How long did it take you to become general auditor?

A: It was less than two years. I don’t want to brag about these things, but I ended up bossing the man who interviewed me. The man they brought in to block me was sent to Houston. Luckily, I was doing very well. We were at the Bookshop House on Broad Street then. My career was blossoming.

I wrote another audit report, Financial Management and the Treasury Activities. I think Ibrahim Babangida was in power then. Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, was on then and things were very difficult. I wrote and explained what we should do to strenghten the financial base and treasury activities of the company. It was a 28-page report. Akinyelure is still alive to attest to what I am saying.

that I could implement the report. They said they could not but accept the recommendations.

I (Bank of Credit, Commerce and Industry) then – the bank that went under – and I was the only treasurer that didn’t lose money. I was a whiz-kid and I am proud of that.
s that devaluation was coming and it was going to affect the budget for the building. We took the bill of quantities and gave the best financial projection that was possible, pre-purchased all the items that were needed to build. Nearly 40 per cent of that building was financed when the exchange rate was one Naira to one Dollar. We purchased additional materials, including steel and cement. Whatever I tell you was in the bill of quantities. It started at N4 to $1, if you looked at foreign exchange then. It would not have been possible. Then, at the next fortnightly bidding, the exchange rate shot up to N16 to $1 and that could have adversely affected the project. In fact, if we did not pre-purchase the building materials, it would not have been possible. The nnpc building got stagnated. We finished the building on time without as much as two per cent variation, and that was how we got so much credit for financial engineering.

Q:

Is there a source? Should be a stand alone thread.

sarrki:
THIS TINUBU INTERVIEW IS A MASTERSTROKE‼️

Q: Were you tempted to stay back in the US after your studies?

A: To be honest with you, yes. I was lucky when I got to Chicago State University. I entered the university with honours from the Richard Daley College, because I got credit in majority of the Accounting courses.

After the first term, I was one of the candidates on the Dean’s list and my professor, Joe Jesse, commended me for my hard work, class participation and brilliance. He said that I would be lucky if I could keep my activities and brilliant results up till the end of the term. He didn’t say more or in what form the luck would manifest.

At the end of the term, and still on the Dean’s list, Professor Jesse came around to inform me that he would employ me to manage the Accounting laboratory for the institution. He gave the letter of employment to the dean of the faculty. The following week, I was called upon to take up employment as a tutor in the institution because I was very good at Mathematics and Accounting. I met Tunde Badejo in the school; he was a year ahead of me. But I told him (we took a bet) that we would graduate the same year and he didn’t believe. Later, when I was given a scholarship to become a tutor, I took the letter to Tunde Badejo and said: ‘See, the school is paying my tuition.’ He was amazed. That was how I became a tutor, with my tuition being paid. Tunde Badejo majored in Mathematics, and having been challenged, his performance got better the following semester and he also became a Maths tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. I was challenged and severely under pressure to keep up the grade as each semester rolled by, because if my grades should drop I would lose the scholarship. It was quite challenging and in the end, I graduated top of my class and I was recruited as an Accounting major. There were big accounting firms then. Touche was number nine. I was recruited. And I still got other job offers. Then there were eight big accounting firms in the United States, including Arthur Andersen , Arthur Young, Ernst and Whinney, Peat Marwick and Mitchell, Deloitte and others. Out of the big eight, five of them offered me jobs and that was school recruitment–right on the campus.

I was on the Dean’s list; I was in line for the award for the overall best counting student as well as that of the university scholar’s award. With that, the big firms would continue to woo you. Despite the five job offers, I was equally offered employment by IBM and others. Professor Jesse called me and advised that I should not be arrogant. He asked that I remove my name from the career placement centre because, according to him, the more they saw my grades, the more I would be sought after. He said that might hinder other accounting graduates from being recruited and that the faculty wanted as many accounting graduates as possible to be recruited by the big companies. So I went and removed it. Usually, there was a benchmark for recruitments by the big professional accounting firms and they didn’t go beneath that. I got an offer of $20,000, with travelling allowances and all that. It was big money for me at the time.

But when Arthur Young saw the money I was offered, they offered an additional $3,000. My adviser told me to consider an offer that would make me function effectively in my country, particularly given that the country is blessed with crude oil. I wondered what I would be coming back to do. The career placement officer called me again and asked me what I wanted to do. I said they just spoke to me from my department.

Unlike what happens here, universities in America prepare the students for the future; how to dress, how to face job interviews. The third day after that, Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, now Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group, gave me another offer. They said they were not just going to hire me, but develop me. They asked me to take the salary I was being offered or forget about the job. I went back to Professor Jesse and said: ‘Look at what these people are offering, I would rather go to Arthur Andersen because they were offering to pay more’. But he said that I should not. He said he had always advised me that my career and professional development were more important. He said Delloite had clients like General Motors, Procter and Gamble, National Oil and worked with Aramco Exxon, etc. He said I should consider that my country has crude oil and I might want to return someday. He said I should consider a firm with clients in anufacturing and oil sectors than Arthur Andersen, which only dealt with financial institutions and banks.

I took to his advice. I resumed work at Deloitte training school in June 1979. By April 1979, when I was graduating, I had gotten my future charted. And that was the greatest thing I achieved in America.

Tunde Badejo was still looking for a job. As a honours student, I was there at the high table with the Dean, President of the college and so on, while the rest of the graduands were on the lower platform. So, when they called my friend, Tunde Badejo’s name, he refused to get up because they mispronounced his name and called him ‘Tunde Badeho’. He refused to get up. I was laughing at him from the high table and was saying: ‘You see, I told you we would graduate at the same time.’ I later stood from where I was seated and whispered to the event handler that his name is Badejo and not Badeho. It was not until they called the name correctly that he stood up.

Q: Why did you opt to study Accounting?

A: Sincerely, it was accidental. It was the university placement. I was good in Mathematics and business courses. In fact, if I were to choose a career for myself, I would have chosen marketing. I know Tunde was placed in the Mathematics department also by the university. I came in with A grades and I had nothing less than A+ in Accounting and Statistics.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

At Deloitte and Touche, I chose to travel more than 80 per cent of my working years there. And that is because if a staff chose to travel, he would make more money because he would get travel allowances. That got me into National Oil, which became the Joint Venture Partner of Aramco Oil in Saudi Arabia, which is like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We had gone there to set up their accounting and auditing system. It was while on that service that I got my financial break. When I returned to the United States, my employers gave me a huge bonus, which instantly turned me into a millionaire.

Q: How much was that?

A: The bonus was $850,000, before taxes. My salaries were also being paid into the bank and I was not touching them. At the time, my salary deposits in the bank had risen to about $1.8 million.

Q: You didn’t freak out?

A: No. This is because I had a strong grasp of financial matters. I was happy. I bought a house from the money and invested the rest in the US. I was living well. I was living in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the south of Chicago.

Q: Chicago had the notoriety of being a mafia city. How did you survive there?

A: Chicago was a very dangerous place then, if you didn’t know where to go and how to move. I wouldn’t want to mention some people I knew, whose careers were ruined and got lost in the process. I could still remember some of my colleagues, who did very well. One of them is Kunle Adedayo, whose wife, Pamela, operates the Tastee Fried Chicken. We were there together. Pamela had been a good cook since then. She used to cook for us.

My school, Richard Daley College, was located in an area noted for racism. Though there were other colleges I could go, I was determined to go there and succeed. The school was academically rigorous and maintained high discipline. Of course, the story has been told severally of the area where Martin Luther King was chased out and shot at. Blacks dreaded the area. Chicago was a windy, cold place. I was able to capitalise on it for academic success and achievement. Though the minimum requirement was 12 credits, I registered for extra course work. I was not getting a dime from Nigeria any longer because my tuition fee was already paid for, and whatever money I realised was meant to cushion the effect of my house rent. Winter time was the busiest time for me and Tunde Badejo, who I was sharing an apartment with.

Since I lost the earlier job at the construction site, I didn’t like security or doorman jobs anymore. I was a very neat guy and was always well-dressed at the place where I was working as a dishwasher in a Holiday Inn. I also got a job for Bolaji Agaba there. In the hotel, I was able to keep warm. And I was later given a room service job because I was very diligent in my previous work. That was acknowledged by those who would come to check on us where we washed the dishes.

Room service is very good; you get nice tips! I did all of that and didn’t take a penny from anybody in Nigeria to go to school in Chicago. Not a dime! I was a self-educated person and I achieved the best in that respect.

Q: Who were the white and African-Americans you interacted with at school and after?

A: Danny Kay Davies, now a Congressman; Jesse Jackson, Costello Joe, one of the most successful financial consultants; Richard Daley III, a stockbroker who became the mayor of Chicago and whose father the school was named after; Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, etc. There were too many of them.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

A: At the National Oil, where we set up the accounting system and at Aramco, I was head of an assignment to liquidate the Chicago Savings and Loans Bank. The assignment was meant to take me to different places, so as to gain exposure to financial services. It is usually a hostile environment when a company is under receivership and is going into liquidation. But I managed the assignment very well. A member of Deloitte’s management, who was a principal partner on the assignment, was very happy.

At the end of that assignment, I was recalled to the National Oil, which had a joint venture with other oil companies. The United States government had a 300-page new leasing legislation at the time. This is one moment of my life I can never forget. The leasing regulation was a subject of tax implication and analysis, and as an auditing firm, we had to interpret the new leasing legislation for compliance. And that was necessary before the client could sign the balance sheet.

It was a tough debate. The managers would sit; we had to make presentations and contributions. My colleagues and I did two aspects of the lease and I happened to be right. When the partners and all of them came and they did the computation, it gave the company an additional opportunity to wiggle and improve its bottom line. So one of National Oil’s assistant controllers left there to work at Mobil. On getting there, he began to persuade me to come over to Mobil.

The period coincided with my vacation in Nigeria and during that time, the late Bade Ojora and other people I knew were in Mobil. They saw me in Lagos and we discussed generally. At the time, I met someone who was in the finance department at my uncle’s place and the man thought I was a wizard when we were talking.

I later went to Ibadan to see an uncle of mine. But before then, my return ticket had been stolen in Lagos. I had a credit card. I was lamenting the loss, when Uncle Bade said he would help in getting me a passport. Then he asked if I would work for Mobil, but I said I was not ready to stay in Nigeria because I was very successful and earning a good salary. He asked me to leave my telephone number so he could get in touch with me afterwards.

The professional career placement centres, which we called head hunters, had placed my curriculum vitae in other companies. They would continue to pursue you, asking whether you wanted to change your job. I was invited by General Telephone and Electronics, GTE, Corporation and they offered a salary that was 32 per cent higher than what I was earning at Deloitte. I went there and was made an assistant manager, but MacGross didn’t leave me alone, asking why I elected to work for a telephone and electronics company. He said: ‘You will be discriminated against there; I know that firm.’ But I didn’t listen to him. I was chasing the title of manager. My career was blossoming. It was great to have a complimentary card carrying the title, manager. When the time came for a review, they promoted someone whom I trained to the position of manager, while I was left the way I was. I resigned that very day. That was when I decided that one day, I would return to my country.

Q: What year was that?

A: That was in 1985/1986. I was determined to return to Nigeria someday. I contemplated returning to Deloitte and at the same time coming back to Nigeria. I was discriminated against. I quit GTE. I decided to go back to Deloitte. While I was still contemplating, Deloitte was relocating from New York and I looked forward to how I would be given extra allowances and bonuses.

At that time also, Mobil was recruiting for its Corporate Audit Department in the United Kingdom office. I went there and I got the offer. The rest is history.

Q: Was Bade Ojora in Mobil at that time?

A: He was still in Mobil. I don’t want to go through what I did when I was in the Corporate Office in London. I was a corporate auditor, but I was a whiz-kid, an assertive one, highly professional. I was always in suspenders and all that. I came on assignment to audit Mobil Nigeria.

Q: Were you recruited abroad and sent here?

A: No. I was recruited in the UK. That was Mobil Foreign; it is completely different from Nigerian operation. They have the audit right, the corporate audit regulation to audit Nigeria. I came and they said they needed an auditor in Nigeria. I went through the process.

Solomon Oladunni was the manager in charge of administration. He, Bade Ojora and Adesanya persuaded me to take the job. The title I was looking for was audit manager. They said I did not have any experience in Nigeria. I faced another level of discrimination. I was given an offer they knew I would reject, but I was determined to stay. The financial controller, a white man, called me to his office to say :”the people there didn’t want you; your own countrymen!’ He added: ‘Whatever they give you, take it, I’m here.’ I was shocked.

At the time, there was a kind of connection between the director of finance and one guy. They were both from Shagamu. And as it played out, I was only made an auditor because they said I didn’t have a Nigerian experience.

Q: But you rose to become the treasurer…

A: I rose to become the general auditor there.
The audit manager, an Australian, was about leaving for his country and he told me that I was badly needed, particularly because I am a Nigerian. He said: “With this resume, you are so rich, you have experience. I know what Alphonso Olusanya, the financial controller, was trying to do.” He added that the other person they wanted to bring in has only local experience (I don’t want to mention his name because he is my friend).

Q: And the money was not bad, but only the title…

A: The money was not bad. I took the offer to work in Mobil because I was tired of the discrimination I suffered overseas and had made up my mind that I would not work for any other company but an American company. I was encouraged to join their team and I met Oladunni, Pius Akinyelure, all of them. The whiteman told me to just come over and prove myself and that I would “get there”. He had been the supervisor of the guy blocking me overseas. And when the whiteman came to Nigeria, they did not give him the title, too. He said: ‘Here, I am financial adviser; I don’t care what title they give me, I am getting my salary and I have my responsibilities to New York. Don’t worry.”

Q: Apart from this initial discrimination that you confronted, what other challenges did you face?

A: The system was poor. I met a very disorganized work environment here. I really did a lot to prove myself. I faced a lot of challenges, but my training and my background from the United States helped my career. I wrote so many audit queries and reports.

Q: We learnt that you wrote one that caused an earthquake!

A: There were so many of them. I wrote one on Bob Eriksson, who was the Chairman/Managing Director. He was weak in his corporate control of the finances of Mobil and I boldly wrote the report based on that. And here was the Chairman/Managing Director, who was affected by the report. Everybody raised an eyebrow. But I emphasised that I was an independent auditor. I said: ‘This is my report, this is my resignation letter.’ I sent a copy of the report to the head office in New York. I wanted to strengthen my independence and professionalism.

The third day, a signal came from New York. The managing director was to be recalled and the corporate audit manager was on his way to check the report. When he came, I had my audit file. All the findings in the report and my recommendations were accepted. They recalled the MD/Chairman and he was demoted. The company rejected my letter of resignation and promoted me general auditor.

Q: How long did it take you to become general auditor?

A: It was less than two years. I don’t want to brag about these things, but I ended up bossing the man who interviewed me. The man they brought in to block me was sent to Houston. Luckily, I was doing very well. We were at the Bookshop House on Broad Street then. My career was blossoming.

I wrote another audit report, Financial Management and the Treasury Activities. I think Ibrahim Babangida was in power then. Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, was on then and things were very difficult. I wrote and explained what we should do to strenghten the financial base and treasury activities of the company. It was a 28-page report. Akinyelure is still alive to attest to what I am saying.

that I could implement the report. They said they could not but accept the recommendations.

I (Bank of Credit, Commerce and Industry) then – the bank that went under – and I was the only treasurer that didn’t lose money. I was a whiz-kid and I am proud of that.
s that devaluation was coming and it was going to affect the budget for the building. We took the bill of quantities and gave the best financial projection that was possible, pre-purchased all the items that were needed to build. Nearly 40 per cent of that building was financed when the exchange rate was one Naira to one Dollar. We purchased additional materials, including steel and cement. Whatever I tell you was in the bill of quantities. It started at N4 to $1, if you looked at foreign exchange then. It would not have been possible. Then, at the next fortnightly bidding, the exchange rate shot up to N16 to $1 and that could have adversely affected the project. In fact, if we did not pre-purchase the building materials, it would not have been possible. The nnpc building got stagnated. We finished the building on time without as much as two per cent variation, and that was how we got so much credit for financial engineering.

Q:

THIS TINUBU INTERVIEW IS A MASTERSTROKE‼️

Q: Were you tempted to stay back in the US after your studies?

A: To be honest with you, yes. I was lucky when I got to Chicago State University. I entered the university with honours from the Richard Daley College, because I got credit in majority of the Accounting courses.

After the first term, I was one of the candidates on the Dean’s list and my professor, Joe Jesse, commended me for my hard work, class participation and brilliance. He said that I would be lucky if I could keep my activities and brilliant results up till the end of the term. He didn’t say more or in what form the luck would manifest.

At the end of the term, and still on the Dean’s list, Professor Jesse came around to inform me that he would employ me to manage the Accounting laboratory for the institution. He gave the letter of employment to the dean of the faculty. The following week, I was called upon to take up employment as a tutor in the institution because I was very good at Mathematics and Accounting. I met Tunde Badejo in the school; he was a year ahead of me. But I told him (we took a bet) that we would graduate the same year and he didn’t believe. Later, when I was given a scholarship to become a tutor, I took the letter to Tunde Badejo and said: ‘See, the school is paying my tuition.’ He was amazed. That was how I became a tutor, with my tuition being paid. Tunde Badejo majored in Mathematics, and having been challenged, his performance got better the following semester and he also became a Maths tutor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. I was challenged and severely under pressure to keep up the grade as each semester rolled by, because if my grades should drop I would lose the scholarship. It was quite challenging and in the end, I graduated top of my class and I was recruited as an Accounting major. There were big accounting firms then. Touche was number nine. I was recruited. And I still got other job offers. Then there were eight big accounting firms in the United States, including Arthur Andersen , Arthur Young, Ernst and Whinney, Peat Marwick and Mitchell, Deloitte and others. Out of the big eight, five of them offered me jobs and that was school recruitment–right on the campus.

I was on the Dean’s list; I was in line for the award for the overall best counting student as well as that of the university scholar’s award. With that, the big firms would continue to woo you. Despite the five job offers, I was equally offered employment by IBM and others. Professor Jesse called me and advised that I should not be arrogant. He asked that I remove my name from the career placement centre because, according to him, the more they saw my grades, the more I would be sought after. He said that might hinder other accounting graduates from being recruited and that the faculty wanted as many accounting graduates as possible to be recruited by the big companies. So I went and removed it. Usually, there was a benchmark for recruitments by the big professional accounting firms and they didn’t go beneath that. I got an offer of $20,000, with travelling allowances and all that. It was big money for me at the time.

But when Arthur Young saw the money I was offered, they offered an additional $3,000. My adviser told me to consider an offer that would make me function effectively in my country, particularly given that the country is blessed with crude oil. I wondered what I would be coming back to do. The career placement officer called me again and asked me what I wanted to do. I said they just spoke to me from my department.

Unlike what happens here, universities in America prepare the students for the future; how to dress, how to face job interviews. The third day after that, Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, now Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group, gave me another offer. They said they were not just going to hire me, but develop me. They asked me to take the salary I was being offered or forget about the job. I went back to Professor Jesse and said: ‘Look at what these people are offering, I would rather go to Arthur Andersen because they were offering to pay more’. But he said that I should not. He said he had always advised me that my career and professional development were more important. He said Delloite had clients like General Motors, Procter and Gamble, National Oil and worked with Aramco Exxon, etc. He said I should consider that my country has crude oil and I might want to return someday. He said I should consider a firm with clients in anufacturing and oil sectors than Arthur Andersen, which only dealt with financial institutions and banks.

I took to his advice. I resumed work at Deloitte training school in June 1979. By April 1979, when I was graduating, I had gotten my future charted. And that was the greatest thing I achieved in America.

Tunde Badejo was still looking for a job. As a honours student, I was there at the high table with the Dean, President of the college and so on, while the rest of the graduands were on the lower platform. So, when they called my friend, Tunde Badejo’s name, he refused to get up because they mispronounced his name and called him ‘Tunde Badeho’. He refused to get up. I was laughing at him from the high table and was saying: ‘You see, I told you we would graduate at the same time.’ I later stood from where I was seated and whispered to the event handler that his name is Badejo and not Badeho. It was not until they called the name correctly that he stood up.

Q: Why did you opt to study Accounting?

A: Sincerely, it was accidental. It was the university placement. I was good in Mathematics and business courses. In fact, if I were to choose a career for myself, I would have chosen marketing. I know Tunde was placed in the Mathematics department also by the university. I came in with A grades and I had nothing less than A+ in Accounting and Statistics.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

At Deloitte and Touche, I chose to travel more than 80 per cent of my working years there. And that is because if a staff chose to travel, he would make more money because he would get travel allowances. That got me into National Oil, which became the Joint Venture Partner of Aramco Oil in Saudi Arabia, which is like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We had gone there to set up their accounting and auditing system. It was while on that service that I got my financial break. When I returned to the United States, my employers gave me a huge bonus, which instantly turned me into a millionaire.

Q: How much was that?

A: The bonus was $850,000, before taxes. My salaries were also being paid into the bank and I was not touching them. At the time, my salary deposits in the bank had risen to about $1.8 million.

Q: You didn’t freak out?

A: No. This is because I had a strong grasp of financial matters. I was happy. I bought a house from the money and invested the rest in the US. I was living well. I was living in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the south of Chicago.

Q: Chicago had the notoriety of being a mafia city. How did you survive there?

A: Chicago was a very dangerous place then, if you didn’t know where to go and how to move. I wouldn’t want to mention some people I knew, whose careers were ruined and got lost in the process. I could still remember some of my colleagues, who did very well. One of them is Kunle Adedayo, whose wife, Pamela, operates the Tastee Fried Chicken. We were there together. Pamela had been a good cook since then. She used to cook for us.

My school, Richard Daley College, was located in an area noted for racism. Though there were other colleges I could go, I was determined to go there and succeed. The school was academically rigorous and maintained high discipline. Of course, the story has been told severally of the area where Martin Luther King was chased out and shot at. Blacks dreaded the area. Chicago was a windy, cold place. I was able to capitalise on it for academic success and achievement. Though the minimum requirement was 12 credits, I registered for extra course work. I was not getting a dime from Nigeria any longer because my tuition fee was already paid for, and whatever money I realised was meant to cushion the effect of my house rent. Winter time was the busiest time for me and Tunde Badejo, who I was sharing an apartment with.

Since I lost the earlier job at the construction site, I didn’t like security or doorman jobs anymore. I was a very neat guy and was always well-dressed at the place where I was working as a dishwasher in a Holiday Inn. I also got a job for Bolaji Agaba there. In the hotel, I was able to keep warm. And I was later given a room service job because I was very diligent in my previous work. That was acknowledged by those who would come to check on us where we washed the dishes.

Room service is very good; you get nice tips! I did all of that and didn’t take a penny from anybody in Nigeria to go to school in Chicago. Not a dime! I was a self-educated person and I achieved the best in that respect.

Q: Who were the white and African-Americans you interacted with at school and after?

A: Danny Kay Davies, now a Congressman; Jesse Jackson, Costello Joe, one of the most successful financial consultants; Richard Daley III, a stockbroker who became the mayor of Chicago and whose father the school was named after; Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, etc. There were too many of them.

Q: How did you get into Mobil?

A: At the National Oil, where we set up the accounting system and at Aramco, I was head of an assignment to liquidate the Chicago Savings and Loans Bank. The assignment was meant to take me to different places, so as to gain exposure to financial services. It is usually a hostile environment when a company is under receivership and is going into liquidation. But I managed the assignment very well. A member of Deloitte’s management, who was a principal partner on the assignment, was very happy.

At the end of that assignment, I was recalled to the National Oil, which had a joint venture with other oil companies. The United States government had a 300-page new leasing legislation at the time. This is one moment of my life I can never forget. The leasing regulation was a subject of tax implication and analysis, and as an auditing firm, we had to interpret the new leasing legislation for compliance. And that was necessary before the client could sign the balance sheet.

It was a tough debate. The managers would sit; we had to make presentations and contributions. My colleagues and I did two aspects of the lease and I happened to be right. When the partners and all of them came and they did the computation, it gave the company an additional opportunity to wiggle and improve its bottom line. So one of National Oil’s assistant controllers left there to work at Mobil. On getting there, he began to persuade me to come over to Mobil.

The period coincided with my vacation in Nigeria and during that time, the late Bade Ojora and other people I knew were in Mobil. They saw me in Lagos and we discussed generally. At the time, I met someone who was in the finance department at my uncle’s place and the man thought I was a wizard when we were talking.

I later went to Ibadan to see an uncle of mine. But before then, my return ticket had been stolen in Lagos. I had a credit card. I was lamenting the loss, when Uncle Bade said he would help in getting me a passport. Then he asked if I would work for Mobil, but I said I was not ready to stay in Nigeria because I was very successful and earning a good salary. He asked me to leave my telephone number so he could get in touch with me afterwards.

The professional career placement centres, which we called head hunters, had placed my curriculum vitae in other companies. They would continue to pursue you, asking whether you wanted to change your job. I was invited by General Telephone and Electronics, GTE, Corporation and they offered a salary that was 32 per cent higher than what I was earning at Deloitte. I went there and was made an assistant manager, but MacGross didn’t leave me alone, asking why I elected to work for a telephone and electronics company. He said: ‘You will be discriminated against there; I know that firm.’ But I didn’t listen to him. I was chasing the title of manager. My career was blossoming. It was great to have a complimentary card carrying the title, manager. When the time came for a review, they promoted someone whom I trained to the position of manager, while I was left the way I was. I resigned that very day. That was when I decided that one day, I would return to my country.

Q: What year was that?

A: That was in 1985/1986. I was determined to return to Nigeria someday. I contemplated returning to Deloitte and at the same time coming back to Nigeria. I was discriminated against. I quit GTE. I decided to go back to Deloitte. While I was still contemplating, Deloitte was relocating from New York and I looked forward to how I would be given extra allowances and bonuses.

At that time also, Mobil was recruiting for its Corporate Audit Department in the United Kingdom office. I went there and I got the offer. The rest is history.

Q: Was Bade Ojora in Mobil at that time?

A: He was still in Mobil. I don’t want to go through what I did when I was in the Corporate Office in London. I was a corporate auditor, but I was a whiz-kid, an assertive one, highly professional. I was always in suspenders and all that. I came on assignment to audit Mobil Nigeria.

Q: Were you recruited abroad and sent here?

A: No. I was recruited in the UK. That was Mobil Foreign; it is completely different from Nigerian operation. They have the audit right, the corporate audit regulation to audit Nigeria. I came and they said they needed an auditor in Nigeria. I went through the process.

Solomon Oladunni was the manager in charge of administration. He, Bade Ojora and Adesanya persuaded me to take the job. The title I was looking for was audit manager. They said I did not have any experience in Nigeria. I faced another level of discrimination. I was given an offer they knew I would reject, but I was determined to stay. The financial controller, a white man, called me to his office to say :”the people there didn’t want you; your own countrymen!’ He added: ‘Whatever they give you, take it, I’m here.’ I was shocked.

At the time, there was a kind of connection between the director of finance and one guy. They were both from Shagamu. And as it played out, I was only made an auditor because they said I didn’t have a Nigerian experience.

Q: But you rose to become the treasurer…

A: I rose to become the general auditor there.
The audit manager, an Australian, was about leaving for his country and he told me that I was badly needed, particularly because I am a Nigerian. He said: “With this resume, you are so rich, you have experience. I know what Alphonso Olusanya, the financial controller, was trying to do.” He added that the other person they wanted to bring in has only local experience (I don’t want to mention his name because he is my friend).

Q: And the money was not bad, but only the title…

A: The money was not bad. I took the offer to work in Mobil because I was tired of the discrimination I suffered overseas and had made up my mind that I would not work for any other company but an American company. I was encouraged to join their team and I met Oladunni, Pius Akinyelure, all of them. The whiteman told me to just come over and prove myself and that I would “get there”. He had been the supervisor of the guy blocking me overseas. And when the whiteman came to Nigeria, they did not give him the title, too. He said: ‘Here, I am financial adviser; I don’t care what title they give me, I am getting my salary and I have my responsibilities to New York. Don’t worry.”

Q: Apart from this initial discrimination that you confronted, what other challenges did you face?

A: The system was poor. I met a very disorganized work environment here. I really did a lot to prove myself. I faced a lot of challenges, but my training and my background from the United States helped my career. I wrote so many audit queries and reports.

Q: We learnt that you wrote one that caused an earthquake!

A: There were so many of them. I wrote one on Bob Eriksson, who was the Chairman/Managing Director. He was weak in his corporate control of the finances of Mobil and I boldly wrote the report based on that. And here was the Chairman/Managing Director, who was affected by the report. Everybody raised an eyebrow. But I emphasised that I was an independent auditor. I said: ‘This is my report, this is my resignation letter.’ I sent a copy of the report to the head office in New York. I wanted to strengthen my independence and professionalism.

The third day, a signal came from New York. The managing director was to be recalled and the corporate audit manager was on his way to check the report. When he came, I had my audit file. All the findings in the report and my recommendations were accepted. They recalled the MD/Chairman and he was demoted. The company rejected my letter of resignation and promoted me general auditor.

Q: How long did it take you to become general auditor?

A: It was less than two years. I don’t want to brag about these things, but I ended up bossing the man who interviewed me. The man they brought in to block me was sent to Houston. Luckily, I was doing very well. We were at the Bookshop House on Broad Street then. My career was blossoming.

I wrote another audit report, Financial Management and the Treasury Activities. I think Ibrahim Babangida was in power then. Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, was on then and things were very difficult. I wrote and explained what we should do to strenghten the financial base and treasury activities of the company. It was a 28-page report. Akinyelure is still alive to attest to what I am saying.

that I could implement the report. They said they could not but accept the recommendations.

I (Bank of Credit, Commerce and Industry) then – the bank that went under – and I was the only treasurer that didn’t lose money. I was a whiz-kid and I am proud of that.
s that devaluation was coming and it was going to affect the budget for the building. We took the bill of quantities and gave the best financial projection that was possible, pre-purchased all the items that were needed to build. Nearly 40 per cent of that building was financed when the exchange rate was one Naira to one Dollar. We purchased additional materials, including steel and cement. Whatever I tell you was in the bill of quantities. It started at N4 to $1, if you looked at foreign exchange then. It would not have been possible. Then, at the next fortnightly bidding, the exchange rate shot up to N16 to $1 and that could have adversely affected the project. In fact, if we did not pre-purchase the building materials, it would not have been possible. The nnpc building got stagnated. We finished the building on time without as much as two per cent variation, and that was how we got so much credit for financial engineering.

Q:

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Wow, This is inspiring @MRtristan,

Felt I should share a summary of my story as well.
Ps: I like your story better, specifically the part of earning in a FCY.

I also was an nnpc hopeful some three years ago, I didn't even make it to the interview stage after we wrote the test.
However, I got an offer with MTN Nigeria in 2019, grew into a new offer (I wouldn't call it a promotion as MTN does not promote), I had to apply for a level 2 role; took the test, scaled through the interview.
I'll be resuming my new role by next month.

At some point I had an interview for a role with Microsoft in London, UK, but didn't get to finals after my recruitment journey was cut short as stated in a love letter from Microsoft's HR.
Also did another interview for a role with a cloud solution company for a role in UAE, however I didn't get offer.

The pay per month for both roles is a little over my previous gross annual pay when converted to NGN, added to an assured relocation plan to the advertised locations.

This is to mention a few.

Hence the heartbreak and also my affinity for a job that pays in FCY.
Folks, Stay Relentless, Grind Hard until you can look back and be thankful of how far you've come.
If the offer isn't coming, learn a tech skill and explore possibilities of the emerging tech space.

In all, DON'T GET LEFT BEHIND.

MRtristan:

Wow, its almost 3years now, the sadness that engulfed me when i realised i was not getting the job, but I had to move on with utmost determination and never giving up, spent the next 15 months studying data science. Now i have been working remotely at a foreign company earning in foreign currency, an amount i would never have gotten as an nnpc employee. Thank you God, I am forever grateful…remember folks, the mottos are “never give up and always try to be better”…

nasiest:
Let me update you bro. Some persons resumed @nnpc two weeks ago. Through the backdoor though but NCDMB haven't called a large number yet for us to conclude that the recruitment has gone the way of EH component of nnpc. Trust me the recruitment isn't over yet even though you obviously wants it to be. Happy Sunday!!!

Probe further, they resumed as third party staff!

nasiest:
Let me update you bro. Some persons resumed @nnpc two weeks ago. Through the backdoor though but NCDMB haven't called a large number yet for us to conclude that the recruitment has gone the way of EH component of nnpc. Trust me the recruitment isn't over yet even though you obviously wants it to be. Happy Sunday!!!

When you say through the backdoor and "some", does it suffice that the number is reasonable?

Let me update you bro. Some persons resumed @nnpc two weeks ago. Through the backdoor though but NCDMB haven't called a large number yet for us to conclude that the recruitment has gone the way of EH component of nnpc. Trust me the recruitment isn't over yet even though you obviously wants it to be. Happy Sunday!!!

Hessian:
Until nnpc GT recruitment was closed out, there was information about it, in fact, the GMD spoke about it during one of their town hall meetings. When they decided to trash the EH component, the management just decided to maintain a sealed lips. As for NCDMB or whatever it is, the pattern has been established!

Until nnpc GT recruitment was closed out, there was information about it, in fact, the GMD spoke about it during one of their town hall meetings. When they decided to trash the EH component, the management just decided to maintain a sealed lips. As for NCDMB or whatever it is, the pattern has been established!

mojounited:

I hope this particular recruitment exercise is pursued to a reasonable conclusion, unlike nnpc EH and NCDMB.

I hope so too.

MStar09:
How long does their recruitment process typically take?

This one that deadline is July 15th, I hope they won't make us wait long to know what's next.

I hope this particular recruitment exercise is pursued to a reasonable conclusion, unlike nnpc EH and NCDMB.

Elsueno:
nnpc EH where also thrown away like trash, despite all d brilliant people on dat thread dat year ....d organisation no send them, they just did thier usaully "naija" things at nnpc, people got tired of waiting & eventually moved on...I sure hope NCDMB aren't playing d same game with u people.

nnpc cancelled it to accommodate their children and politicians candidates. NCDMB may follow suit.
As it is now nothing is going on as regards this recruitment. Nobody is discussing it, may be at the end they will do replacement with their candidates

Alright, thank you!

burantashii:



A top staff confirm to me on LinkedIn that the are seriously understaffed. Most of their department & division are lacking staff including state offices, the ES had to seek for secondment from nnpc staff to fill in capacity, the recruitment will be concluded as soon as the Governing Council issue a go ahead in their next meeting. HR department has concluded necessary arrangements for interview. The interview will hold as to determine Individual capacity and also letting those who won't get the job to be aware cos some candidate didn't meet requirement for age & qualification. Some candidate had different age on thier certificates.. he told me they deployed a software to detect age falsification according to document uploaded (start and end date) and there would be room for candidates to present additional certificate which was not uploaded...

nasiest:
You have started with your uncompleted update fa

A top staff confirm to me on LinkedIn that the are seriously understaffed. Most of their department & division are lacking staff including state offices, the ES had to seek for secondment from nnpc staff to fill in capacity, the recruitment will be concluded as soon as the Governing Council issue a go ahead in their next meeting. HR department has concluded necessary arrangements for interview. The interview will hold as to determine Individual capacity and also letting those who won't get the job to be aware cos some candidate didn't meet requirement for age & qualification. Some candidate had different age on thier certificates.. he told me they deployed a software to detect age falsification according to document uploaded (start and end date) and there would be room for candidates to present additional certificate which was not uploaded...

The picture is becoming clearer. All attention has been shifted to getting the new government that will start piloting the affairs of the country from 2023. It has eventually gone the way of nnpc EH component of 2019/2020 recruitment!