Uche Usim, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday explained why it retired 11 senior staff and carried out a major shake-up affecting 19 members of the top echelon of the national oil company.
Spokesman of NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement said the exercise was a routine, proactive backfill exercise meant to bridge the gap that will be created some management staff that will retire soon.
According to him, such an exercise was always carried out before the final exit of the concerned staff.
He said: “In all, 30 senior staff were affected by both the statutory retirements and redeployment.”
He gave the list of staff on statutory retirement between 1st May and 31 July this year to include: General Manager, Chad Basin, Aniya Francis Umaru, who is from the north-eastern part of the country and retired on May 6, 2019, Adewale Solomon Ladenegan, Managing Director, KRPC, who hails from the south-west and retired on May 13, 2019 and Musa Sulyman Gimba, who is the Group General Manager, NNPC Leadership Academy, who also is from the north-east and retired on May 14th, 2019.
Others include Umma Ayuba Musa, who is the General Manager, HR & Admin Services, Duke Oil, from North-West and retired on May 19, 2019, Emmanuel–Ate Mariagoretti Ndidi, General Manager, Support Services, NGC, from the South-South region and retired on May 30, 2019, Tsavnande Thaddeaus Atighir, Executive Director, Operations, from the north-central, Okor Ovieghara, General Manager, Upstream/TA to GMD, who hails from the south-south region, Barau Mohammed Kabir, Managing Director, NGMC, who is from the north-western region; Dawaki Salihi Abubakar, the General Manager NLNG, LIMS, from the north-west; Ibrahim Aminu Bagudu, the Executive Director, ETSD, NPDC, who is from the north-west and Yusuf Shimingah Matashi, the Managing Director, NPDC, who hails from the north-western region retires on July 17, 2019.
Ughamadu also named the following to be among the 19 staff that were redployed Anas Mustapha Mohammed, Usman Faruk, Ali Muhammed Sarki, Osarolube Ezekiel, Ihya Aondoaver Mson, Isah Abubakar Lapal, Umar Hamza Ado, Garba Adamu Kaita, Ossai Uche, Usman Umar, Ehizoje Tunde Ighodaro, Ahmed Mohammed Abdulkabir and Lere Isa Aliyu. Others are Richard-Obioha Maryrose Nkemegina, Dikko Ahmed, Ibrahim Sarafa Ayobami, Usman Yusuf, Sambo Mansur Sadiq and Buggu Louis Tizhe.
The NNPC spokesman said it was usual for the corporation to obtain necessary approvals on replacements of retiring staff ahead of schedule, saying this was the case with the recent exercise that took effect as at when the retiring staff depart at various times within the period.
Ughamadu stated that the exercise was effected to ensure uninterrupted operations of the corporation in achieving its mandate, adding that extant corporate guidelines were strictly followed in the process.
He advised members of the public to disregard the insinuation that some staff of the corporation were relieved of their duties, saying the deployments were expected and aimed at sustaining the system.
The NNPC spokesperson urged staff of the Corporation not to be distracted with the report.