Mohammed Barkindo, group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been relieved of his post. A statement on Barkindo’s dismissal issued by the Presidency yesterday and endorsed by Ima Niboro, senior special adviser to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, did not however give reasons for his sack. To replace Barkindo is Laden Shehu, a retired group executive director, commercial and investment, NNPC, whose appointment has been confirmed.
Ladan who was also a former deputy managing director of Nigeria LNG, executive director of National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), as well as the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) – subsidiaries of NNPC, industry sources said, would be inheriting a cash-strapped NNPC. Incoming Ladan is expected to execute the administration’s vision of transforming NNPC into a global brand and player.
Industry sources told BusinessDay last night that the exit of Barkindo who many staff of the Corporation had constantly accused of employing only people from his ethnic nationality could signal the sack of many of his appointees. Over 80 percent of the top management staff members of the state-owned oil firm were allegedly appointed by Barkindo, and from the northern part of the country.
“He flagrantly disobeyed the principles of federal character as entrenched in the constitution,” a source stated. With the sack of Barkindo, about 90 percent of the management staff of the Corporation fear they may also be asked to find their way out of NNPC any moment from now, another source volunteered. BusinessDay learnt that several of the management staff were said to be preparing their handover notes in anticipation of the impending sack.
Many oil and gas industry operators had kicked against the appointment of Barkindo in January, 2009, as the helmsman of NNPC but because he was believed to be “the anointed son” of the former minister of petroleum resources, Rilwan Lukman, he was imposed on the other well-known and respected technocrats within the organisation, alleged another insider.
No sooner had he taken over mantle of leadership that he began to sack many staff of the Corporation who were mostly southerners, to pave way for his own people, continued the top management source, last night. Reacting to Barkindo’s sack, president of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Babatunde Oguns, noted that his removal was not the answer to the problems of the Corporation.
Oguns who spoke with BusinessDay though accused Barkindo of being a “solo jubilant” who did not carry others along in executing the projects he promised would revolutionise the oil and gas sector. He opined that even though, the erstwhile GMD may have meant well, he failed to make Nigerians aware of his working plans, thus restricting himself only to “a select few in NNPC”.
The union leader noted that as far as oil workers were concerned, the industry needed more intelligent people to run its affairs, adding that the extensive experience of Ladan in the industry would be needed in carrying out his duties.
Also speaking in the same vein, Austin Avuru, managing director of Platform Petroleum simply declared that NNPC could not be redeemed, especially with the way it was structured, thus, suggesting that it would be better to reduce the level of damage the Corporation was doing to the economy by limiting its interference in the industry. A member of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nojeem Korodo, observed that if removing Barkindo would stabilise the oil and gas industry, then, the association had no problems with that.
Source: BusinessDay
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