President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just appointed the 20th Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in the person of Engr Bayo Bashir Ojulari.
Ojulari succeeds Engr Mele Kyari who piloted the affairs of the national oil company for about six years. He was appointed Group Managing Director/CEO of NNPC by former President Muhammadu Buhari and retained by Tinubu until yesterday.
Kyari, on his part, succeeded Maikanti Baru the 18th Chief Executive of the 48-year-old NNPC.
Looking at the 20 Nigerians that headed the behemoth NNPC, five of the six geopolitical zones have been represented in the leadership of the organization. The only exception is the South-East.
That President Tinubu could continue on the flagrant exclusion of the South-East in the appointment of a new Group Managing Director of NNPC is worrying. Also worrying is that no consideration is given to the fact that the South-East is an oil and gas producing zone.
While we agree that appointments to such exalted position must be based on competence, merit and experience, it is obvious that the South-East is not lacking in such persons – since the beginning of NNPC in 1977.
One wonders what justification the Federal Government has in this loud and audible policy of exclusion of the South-East in selecting the persons to head the NNPC.
Today, the country is shifting emphasis to gas. The South-East hosts the largest gas deposits in Nigeria – in fact, West Africa. Gas and oil exploration has continued in this zone far before Nigeria’s political independence.
The much celebrated 612 km AKK gas pipeline has a link to the commodity exploited from the South-East.
The newly approved high pressure gas pipeline approved by the Federal Government, like the railway modernization and expansion under Buhari, excludes the South-East.
This show of insensitivity and arrogant allocation of our collective authoritative values by the authorities of the Federal Government does not seem to align with the fact that our diversity is our strength. If anything, it is marginalization writ large.
Perhaps, the political leadership from the South-East which feels comfortable with the crumbs that fall from the mighty table of the nation’s leadership under the control of persons from other zones, to the perpetual exclusion of the South-East, should begin to re-examine their place in history.
Parading a galaxy of private jets, exotic cars and state-of-the-art buildings in highbrow areas of our cities is not a mark of leadership relevant to the people. Showcasing ability to join in the grabbing of national resources for personal aggrandizement amount to nothing if the privilege of occupying a leadership position cannot translate to influencing the appointment of qualified persons of South-East extraction into the leadership of strategic positions like the GCEO of NNPC.
It bears restating that if requisite academic qualification and cognate experience are critical indices for selection of NNPC helmsmen then there will be surfeit of candidates of South East origin for the plum job. It is unlikely that South East candidates will come second in any competitive exam and interview for the NNPC top job if there is a level playing field.
The story of NNPCL is chequered and dates back to 1971 when the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) was decreed into existence. Corporate NNPC, was decreed into existence in July 1977 to take over the mandate of its immediate but crippled precursor, the Nigerian National Oil Corporation that was cries ridden right from birth.
Perhaps, a key reason why NNPCL has remained a perennial under performer could be located in the contradiction in its still being a state monopoly under the vice grip of governments that have been discriminatory in its senior management selection process and unabashedly biased in the appointment of the GCEO, a sad trend that President Bola Tinubu is perpetuating.
