- From Abuja to Lagos and all around the Group, is a feeling of apprehension on who will be next, as the attitude is now one of “wait and see”.
- At the NNPC Headquarters in Abuja, those who spoke to newsmen in confidence on the telephone said the changes were expected.
- According to one of them, “we’re all just watching to see what happens next. These changes are beyond our control, and everywhere is quiet.”
- Another noted that the real problem with the NNPC is not within, as “the NNPC is controlled by the political leaders, so if the changes must succeed, then the internal structure of the Corporation must be extricated from politics.”
- The story is similar in Lagos, as a staff in one of the subsidiary companies revealed that “everybody is now sitting up,” while another added that “there will even be more changes.”
- Another unit top management staff, who said the appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, as the new Group Managing Director is the best thing that could have happened to the Corporation, also said this is now the time to prune down cost of maintaining “a bloated and heavy management.”
According to him: “Instead of being a pyramid, the NNPC Group management is an inverted pyramid. This is because the GEDs were appointed based on political considerations like geographical spread, which makes it unreasonable.”
Furthermore, he said that many who had served their full terms of 35 years even had their tenures elongated, noting that “this was not fair to the junior workers, as there was no growth in the system. The Group wastes so much money on staff training but nobody can move up because those at the top were not leaving the system, which is a waste of resources.”
He said this was why the NNPC employees lobby to become managers because, “you won’t start enjoying NNPC until you become a manager, either at the corporate headquarters or in the refineries. Their salaries are so heavy and not in the general interest of the public.”
- He added that since the All Progressive Congress, APC, won the Presidential elections; there has been this fear and trepidation among the staff.
“Everybody began to sit up right from when Buhari won the elections. The fear of Buhari was the beginning of wisdom because of his reputation as a no nonsense man,” he said.
Source: Vanguard
