From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has promised Nigerians that he will not rest on his oars but break new grounds as well as provide listening ears, compassionate heart and feelings to the cries and yearnings of the personnel in the oil and gas sector.
On 3rd May, 2021 Mr. Ernest Omo–Ojo, a former staff of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil petitioned the office of the Minister, soliciting his intervention and that of the Ministry over what he referred to as the unjust termination of his appointment in flagrant violation of the regulatory guidelines enshrined in the Amended Oil and Gas Industry Regulation on Release of Staff.
Mr. Omo-Ojo was, however, optimistic that bureaucratic bottlenecks will not deter the Minister from taking action on the matter.
The Minister, in response, directed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to set up a committee to look into the petition. Accordingly, Permanent Secretary constituted a three-man committee made up of the Director of Human Resources Management as the Chairman, Director Upstream Department as the Secretary, while Director of Legal Services served as a Member.
The mandate of the Committee was to critically review the petition from both ends, i.e hear from the Complainant, Mr. Ernest Omo-ojo and his former employer, ExxonMobil and come up with appropriate recommendations to enable the Management take an informed decision on the matter.
The Committee had meetings with all the concerned parties and discovered in the course of the sittings that the defunct Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) regulations which provided that any Joint Venture (JV) company that initiated a disengagement process against its staff must forward the process to the Minister for approval, was breached by ExxonMobil.
Similarly, it was established that the Complainant, by his action, breached an aspect of the Company’s policy which led to his disengagement from ExxonMobil.
The Committee, thus, recommended that the Minister and indeed the Ministry should advise ExxonMobil to consider the option of compulsory retirement instead of the outright termination of Ernest Omo-Ojo’s appointment.
The recommendation of the Committee was approved by the Ministry and subsequently on 4th February, 2022, urged Mobil Producing Nigeria Limited to commute the termination of the Complainant’s employment to retirement. The Company wasted no time, but dispassionately disposed the matter in line with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ advice.
The Committee described the matter as landmark achievement of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources under the leadership of Chief Timipre Sylva, and was aimed at ensuring that the personnel employed by the Multinational Companies in the oil and gas sector are not treated with disdain.
Director Upstream, Kamoru Busari, who served as the Secretary of the Committee that investigated the case, said he was happy and fulfilled to had played a role in restoring smiles on the face of Mr. Omo-Ojo
He said: “I felt proud and fulfilled as an Administrator to be part of the team that resolved the matter. More so, that it was a case of arbitration and an oil giant like ExxonMobil was prevailed upon to rescind its decision to sack Mr. Omo–Ojo and commute it to retirement.
“Surely, Omo-Ojo being the complainant put enormous pressure on the members of the committee as he was prevailed upon to withdraw the matter from the Industrial Court. However, we continually gave him hope until the matter was amicably resolved.”
He, however, advised anyone who feels short-changed or aggrieved with any government system to be patient enough and believe in the ability of government institutions in enforcing the law. “Ensure you follow laid down procedures in the law or regulations to solve all conflicts. However, arbitration such as the case of Omo-Ojo is highly recommended.
“People should have confidence in the capability of the institutions to come to their aid whenever they report such case (s).”
On his side, the Director, Human Resources Management at the time, Dr. Famous Eseduwo, admitted that the defunct DPR did not properly play its role as a regulatory agency between the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Multinational Oil Company (MOC), ExxonMobil, towards protecting Nigerians working with MOCs in the Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Industry.
He confirmed that the Minister of State for Petroleum was provided with insufficient information and competent advice earlier to act on the matter. “ExxonMobil acted in line with their internal rules in aberration to the Federal Government’s regulations on the disciplinary process of an erring Nigerian employee in MOCs.
“There was no equilibrium between technical and political rationality in the matter, abinitio. And it was the above missing links that my Committee interrogated. It’s important that people should get themselves acquainted with the MOCs’ extant service rules and be conscious of the rules so they won’t be caught up with them.”
He further confirmed that the ExxonMobil’s earlier decision on Omo-Ojo in terminating his appointment was annulled by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources not on lack of merit but lack of due process. “Again, extant Court judgments against such MOC decisions on their Nigerian employees are the consequences of taking haphazard decisions on workers as well as incurring avoidable financial implications,” he explained.