By Emmanuel Addeh
The Nigerian National Corporation (NNPC) yesterday denied allegations of lack of transparency in its recent graduate trainee employment process as well as top management promotion exercise executed by the corporation.
The national oil company listed unblemished academic competence, logical thinking, ability to engage meaningfully in problem solving, in addition to federal character, as key to becoming an employee of the corporation.
It said that to make progress in the management cadre, professional competence, accountability and transparency as well as ensuring national spread in top management positions are critical factors that are not negotiable.
The House of Representatives had a gee days ago, said it would conduct a forensic investigation into the recent recruitment of graduate trainees by the NNPC with a view to determining how many persons were recruited from the various host communities.
But the NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, in a statement in Abuja, stated that the basic academic requirement for newly employed graduate trainees in the corporation is a minimum of a Second-Class, Upper Division, or an Upper Credit for Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate holders.
He said that alternatively, a candidate holding a Second Class Lower Division degree or an HND Lower Credit Diploma holder, must in addition have acquired a Master’s degree in a relevant field.
He said that was applicable in the last recruitment exercise where qualified applicants undertook computer-based test conducted by a neutral national examinations body, following which the best performers were further taken through a formal interview session to ensure their suitability.
Obateru stated that the end product of the ‘rigorous exercise’ was the new set of employees who have shown a lot of promise since the beginning of the onboarding programme which started earlier this month.
According to the corporation, the testimonies of the new recruits attested to the transparency of the process.
The corporation further explained that the principle of federal character was also a factor in the progression of the newly appointees.
Throwing more light, the NNPC stated that many top management officers of the corporation were moved to new positions while some were promoted based on their verifiable track records of performance.
For instance, the corporation said that the erstwhile Chief Operating Officer (COO), Upstream, Mr. Roland Ewubare, was posted to the Ventures and Business Development Directorate as COO.
“Under the arrangement, Ewubare, in the new order got an additional responsibility of business development, besides managing the group’s ventures” it said.
The NNPC maintained that Ewubare’s position as COO Upstream was taken over by Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji, erstwhile Chief Operating Officer in charge of Downstream directorate.
Obateru stated that the recent top management appointment also received affirmative action with the re-deployment of Ms. Lawrencia Ndupu to the Downstream.
According to him, changes were also spiced with the appointment of Mr. Bala Wunti, the erstwhile Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company as the new GGM of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).
The corporation listed another top employee promoted on the basis of merit as Mr. Lawal Sade, Managing Director of the NNPC Trading Company, a subsidiary of corporation, while Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye, from the South-south, is still Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing.
