NNPC APPOINTMENTS: Open Letter To President Muhammadu Buhari…. By PANDEF
"Mr. President. Your administration played dumb to the
protestations and genuine concerns raised by well-meaning Nigerians from within
and outside the Niger Delta region".
"Your
Excellency, we had thought the prejudicial actions would end with your first
term, and that there would be broader approach to the conduct of State affairs
in your second term. Sadly, it is not so; the trend has continued, like a canon
whose end leads back to the beginning".
President
and Commander-in-Chief,
Federal
Republic of Nigeria
Dear Mr. President,
RE: ADDRESSING THE
CONTINUED INJUSTICE AGAINST THE NIGER DELTA PEOPLE VIZ. THE LOPSIDED APPOINTMENTS
IN THE NNPC AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES/DEPARTMENTS
Firstly,
we wish to extend our deepest condolences to you on the passing of Mallam Abba
Kyari, your late Chief of Staff.
We
supplicate the Almighty for the repose of his soul, and the souls of all our country
men and women who have died as result of the corona virus pandemic.
We
commiserate with the families and loved ones of the deceased, while we wish all
who are currently undergoing treatment speedy recovery.
It
is our hope that government and all citizens would take even greater
responsibility to stem the spread of the virus in the country, and soonest,
make Nigeria COVID-19 free, by the grace of Almighty God.
Your
Excellency, it is for the COVID-19 situation, and particularly, the unfortunate
demise of Mallam Abba Kyari that we had restrained ourselves from writing this
letter to you before now. But we are compelled do so at this time, and aware of
the constraints and strict protocols that we may encounter if established
procedures were to be engaged, we elected this medium.
Mr.
President, the leadership of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has in the last two
months, again been inundated with complaints over the continued seemingly
deliberate and calculated sidelining of indigenes of the Niger Delta region in
appointments and redeployments in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC and its subsidiaries. These objections have amplified following the recent
promotions and reorganization in the Corporation, made in March 2020 that
further isolated the Niger Delta people from the mainstream management
structure of the NNPC.
Your
Excellency, we recall that an avalanche of condemnations from the Niger
Delta/South-South greeted the vexatious composition of the NNPC BOARD that you
constituted in 2016, where out of the 9 members of the Board, only one person
was from the South-South in the person of Dr. Thomas M. A. John from Cross
River State, apart from the Minister of State, Petroleum, and one person from
the South-West. The rest were all from the Northern zones of the country; with
three persons from the North East zone, including the then Group Managing
Director, Maikanti Baru from Bauchi state and of course, Mr. President’s late
Chief of Staff, who was a member of the Board until his demise, three persons
from the North West zone, and one person from the North Central zone. The
South-East zone, an oil producing zone, had no representation in the NNPC
Board.
The
lopsided NNPC Management later effected a re-organization in September 2017
that left the Region more estranged.
PANDEF
put up Advertorials and Press Statements in national Newspapers against the
marginalization of the region, at the time. Further to that, the National
Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum and Distinguished Elder Statesman, Chief Dr. Edwin
Kiagbodo Clark, CON, OFR, held Press Conferences and urged Mr. President to
re-visit the provocative appointments and promotions in the NNPC and its
subsidiaries, in the interest of peace, equity and justice. Other patriotic and
eminent Nigerians also spoke against the illiberality and imbalances in the
Corporation.
Nothing
was done by you, Mr. President. Your administration played dumb to the
protestations and genuine concerns raised by well-meaning Nigerians from within
and outside the Niger Delta region.
Your
Excellency, we had thought the prejudicial actions would end with your first
term, and that there would be broader approach to the conduct of State affairs
in your second term. Sadly, it is not so; the trend has continued, like a canon
whose end leads back to the beginning.
Today,
under Mr. President’s watch, the paradoxical and dismal reality is that in the
management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, through which
the federal government regulates and participates in the country’s petroleum
industry that operates in our backyards, virtually all top MANAGEMENT POSITIONS
OF THE CORPORATION and its subsidiaries, Departments, and Ventures, are held by
persons from the Northern zones of the country that do not produce an ounce of
Oil, to the exclusion of indigenes of oil producing Communities of Niger Delta
region.
KEY MANAGEMENT
POSITIONS HELD BY NORTHERNERS IN NNPC
1. Mele
Kolo Kyari – Group Managing Director, GMD
2. Umar
Isa Ajiya – Chief Finance Officer, Finance
& Account
3. Yusuf
Usman – Chief Operating Officer, Gas &
Power
4.
Farouk Garba Sa’id – Chief Operating Officer,
Corporate Services
5.
Mustapha Y. Yakubu – Chief Operating Officer, Refining
and Petrochemicals
6.
Hadiza Y. Coomassie – Corporate Secretary/Legal
Adviser to the Corporation
7. Omar
Farouk Ibrahim – GGM, International Energy Relations, IER
8.
Kallamu Abdullahi – GGM, Renewable Energy
9.
Ibrahim Birma – GGM, Governance Risk and
Compliance
10. Bala Wunti
– GGM, NAPIMS
11. Inuwa Waya
– MD, NNPC Shipping
12. Musa Lawan
– MD, Pipelines & Product Marketing, PPMC
13. Mansur
Sambo – MD, Nigeria Petroleum Development
Company, NPDC
14. Lawal Sade
– MD, Duke Oil/NNPC Trading Company
15. Malami
Shehu – MD, Port Harcourt Refining Company
16. Muhammed
Abah – MD, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company
17. Abdulkadir
Ahmed – MD, Nigeria Gas Marketing Company
18. Salihu
Jamari – MD, Nigeria Gas and Power Investment
Company Limited
19. Mohammed
Zango – MD, NNPC Medical Services
20. Sarki
Auwalu – Director, Department of Petroleum
Resources, DPR
The
Oil Producing zones of South-South, South East and South West are left with one
Chief Operating Officer Position each, and a few senior and middle level
management positions in peripheral and incidental subsidiaries, departments and
divisions of the Corporation.
The
NNPC Board subsists as was constituted in 2016 without changes, apart from the
Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari
from Borno state, who replaced Maikanti Bari as Group Managing Director in July
2019. AND MR. PRESIDENT REMAINS THE PETROLEUM MINISTER.
The
management pattern in NNPC is replicated in all other Oil Related Agencies such
as Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), Petroleum Equalization Fund, and
etcetera.
Employment
into the NNPC and other related Agencies is not anything different. While young
graduates of the Niger Delta region with degrees in petroleum engineering and
allied fields remain jobless, Northerners with degrees in history are working
as managers in the NNPC.
Ironically,
the South South zone produces about 95% of the Nigeria’s crude oil Resources,
which account for over 90% of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. The
effects of oil exploration on the hitherto luxurious ecosystem of the Niger
Delta, and damage done to the indigenous people’s means of livelihood with
little, if any, improvement in their standard of living, are sad verities that
make the situation in the NNPC more vexing.
Nigeria’s Crude Oil
production figures by State
1. Akwa
Ibom 504,000 bpd –
31.4%
2. Delta
346,000 bpd –
21.56%
3.
Rivers 344,000 bpd –
21.43%
4.
Bayelsa 290,000 bpd
– 18.07%
5. Edo
33,000 bpd
– 2.06%
6. Ondo
60,000 bpd
– 3.74%
7. Imo
17,000 bpd
– 1.06%
8. Abia
11,000 bpd
– 0.68%
OIL PRODUCTION IN
THE NORTHERN ZONES = 0%
Chapter
2, Section 14 (3) of the Nation’s Constitution, which Mr. President swore on
oath to uphold and defend, provides that “the composition of the Government of the
Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be
carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and
the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty,
thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few
State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in
any of its agencies.”
Mr.
President, can the NNPC management configuration promote national unity or
national loyalty? Doesn’t it go against the spirit and letters of the
Constitution?
Regrettably,
the uncouth discriminative bias against the Niger Delta region is even being
perpetuated in the current efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the
country, and in the dispensation of palliatives to vulnerable citizens by
Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal government.
Concerning
the $311 million US Dollars Abacha loot recently returned from the United
States, which your administration said has been allocated to projects;
including the second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano
expressways, as well as the Mambilla Power Project in North East zone; no
project in the South South zone is listed.
These
situations further bolster the Niger Delta peoples’ demand for not only
adequate participation in the management, administration, and dispensation of
the resources nature has richly endowed our lands but also for the
RESTRUCTURING of the country. And we will not stop; confident that someday the
sun will shine on us.
Mr.
President need not be apprised that the People of the Niger Delta region have
nothing against any part of the country. But this gross injustice against the
people who bear the brunt of the oil exploration and exploitation activities in
their land must stop. The region has been a “good friend” to all parts of
the country, particular to Northern Nigeria. More so, the Region has
demonstrated tremendous patriotism and goodwill towards your Administration.
Unfortunately, instead of appropriately reciprocating the gesture of the Niger
Delta people by addressing the genuine demands of the Region as encapsulated in
the 16-Point Demand that was presented by PANDEF to Mr. President on 1st
November 2016, what we see is further alienation and distancing by the Federal
Government and its agencies.
Your
Excellency, the purpose of this letter, therefore, is to again highlight these
gross disproportions to you, with the imploration that Mr. President should, in
the interest of fairness, equity, PEACE and POSTERITY, correct the anomalies
and give all Regions and Zones of the Country due sense of belonging;
especially the Niger Delta region. It is imperative that every effort should be
employed to ensure that the subsisting peace in the Niger Delta region is sustained,
in the context of the COVID-19 impact on the global economy and falling crude
oil price.
Lastly,
may we decorously request Mr. President to note that there is a burden on you
to urgently address these palpable defects of your administration, and bequeath
a worthwhile legacy; such that in the years to come, when citizens reminisce on
the tenure of your presidency, the contemplations would not be distorted by
unnerving shadows of nepotism, bias and injustice.
We
note that Mr. President recently forwarded a list of nominees for the Federal
Character Commission to the Senate for confirmation; with two nominees from the
Northern zones of the country designated for Chairman and Secretary of the
Commission. These actions undermine national cohesion and unity. We cannot
continue to run Nigeria in such manner.
Luckily,
Mr. President has sufficient time, of about three years, to alter the chronicle
and theme it in the direction of equity and social justice. May the Creator of
heaven and earth guide you to do the required.
Thank
you, Mr. President, and kindly accept the assurances of our highest esteem.
Happy
Ramadan!
Sincerely,
Hon. Ken Robinson
National Publicity Secretary
Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF
09058444601
CC:
1. Senator Ahmed Lawan, Senate
President
2. Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila,
Speaker, House of Representatives
3. Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy
Senate President
4. Chairmen, Senate Committees on
Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
5. Chairmen, House Committees on
Niger Delta & Petroleum Upstream/Downstream
6. HE, Udom Emmanuel, Governor of
Akwa Ibom State
7. HE, Senator Douye Diri, Governor
of Bayelsa State
8. HE, Prof. Ben Ayade, Governor of
Cross River State
9. HE, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa,
Governor of Delta State
10. HE, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo
State
11. HE, Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike, Governor of
Rivers State
12. HE, Dr, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
13. HE, Chief Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo
14. HE, General Ibrahim Babangida rtd
15. HE, General Abdulsalami Abubakar rtd
16. General T. Y. Danjuma rtd
17. Chairmen of Traditional Rulers’ Councils
of the six South South States
18. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National
Chairman, APC
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