86% New NNPC Top Managers Are Northerners

No fewer than 86 percent of top management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) appointed by the Mohammed Barkindo-led management is from the northern part of the country. At the last rejig of personnel at the state oil company which was preceded by the retirement of some people, 14 new top management staff were appointed by Barkindo into the positions of group executive directors, group general managers, managing directors of subsidiaries and managers.

Out of this number, only two positions were allocated to people of southern extraction, representing 14 percent of the top management. The Group Executive Director, corporate services, is Attahiru Yusuf while Auwalu Abubakar is Group General Manager, human resources. The new general manager, human resources is Hajia M. Sanni with I. M. Bawa clinching the position of general manager, administration services.

There are several other positions occupied by northerners to the detriment of other sections of the country. For instance, the group general manager in charge of crude oil is Farouk Bello, also a northerner. Two other executive directors, Alhaji Farouk and Alhaji Babangida for commercial and corporate services respectively, are northerners. In addition, one Alhaji Yola is the general manager in charge of crude oil shipping while his counterpart in procurement is also a northerner. He is one Alhaji Lamido while a woman, Hajia Yahuza is manager responsible for central transportation.

A southerner was appointed manager in administration department while Reginald Stanly, managing director of Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC), was also appointed by Barkindo. Jeddy Agba, appointed general manager by Barkindo is said to be partially north and partially south but leans more to the north. It has been said that what holds Nigeria together is oil. It is the natural resource that keeps the Nigerian economy running and it is the single product that accounts for over 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. The NNPC, established in 1977 on the ashes of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC), is the behemoth that runs the oil industry. The office of Group Managing Director of NNPC is a very influential one. Below that office, there are other positions that are of strategic importance.

On January 13, 2009, Barkindo was appointed Group Managing Director to replace Abubakar Yar’Adua, an engineer, who became helmsman when his namesake, the president came to power in 2007. But he failed to keep his promise to revive the nation’s refineries.

It is elementary knowledge that oil is produced in the Niger Delta, a region that has become a hotbed of agitation to right the wrongs of several years of neglect and environmental degradation.

The goose that lays the golden egg has always been short-changed in the scheme of things especially when the oil sector is involved. The Niger Delta produces oil but is not part of the decision making in the oil industry. To bolster the confidence of Barkindo and give him support is Riwanu Lukman, who himself is a rabid ethno-centrist. The combination of Lukman and Barkindo has not done much to make the job of Odein Ajumogobia, minister of state for petroleum, easier. The Federal Character Commission has turned a blind eye to the northernisation of the commanding positions in NNPC. If the establishment is still alive to its responsibilities, it would have intervened to address the audacious lopsidedness in the appointment of top personnel in favour of the north. At the a time that Niger Delta militants are being courted to embrace peace, such brazen neglect of other areas in the composition of the top management has the potentials to scuttle the amnesty programme.