Oil workers reject appointments of outsiders in NNPC
By Eberechi Obinagwam
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have called on the management of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to reverse the decision to fill top management positions with externally recruited personnel.
The unions in a grievance letter addressed to NNPCL management rejected the decision, saying that they have put their members on red alert as failure to abide by this demand will be met with force and serial unrest.
In the letter that was made available to newsmen, the unions said they are in total solidarity with its members in NNPC limited as no proven record hiring externally has yielded any positive impact on the company
They recalled that when the then GMD Dr. Kachikwu was appointed to lead the company in 2015, he removed the entire to management team and brought in people from the ICOCs. Literally, all the group chief operating officers in the different directorates and lots of the MDs were brought in from outside the company, “This act yielded no impact on the company bottom line but instead it stiffened the growth of career employees who had dedicated their entire working lives to the service of the then corporation and now company.
“We have critically examined that such recruitments over the years are either to satisfy cronies or pay back those that lobbied for their appointments to the detriment of the career growth of Nigerians who work in the company that has been properly trained over the years.
We wholeheartedly welcome the new GCEO and the board members that were appointed by the president and commander-in-chief on Wednesday 2nd of April 2025 but unequivocally rejected all external appointments that the board made into M2 position and below on Friday 4 of April, 2025,” according to the letter.
