Some staff members of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, have asked President Bola Tinubu to quickly redress the recent employment of a Manager at the ExxonMobil Nigeria Ms. Olaide Shaw as a director in the services of the commission.
They described the recruitment of Shaw’s employment as an aberration of the laid down recruitment and promotion guidelines as enumerated in the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA 2021 and the Public Service Rules.
The three-page petition, jointly signed by Mathew Kola and Hassan Madibo on behalf of the workers, was addressed to President Tinubu following what it termed a purported directives from the Presidency.
“President Tinubu, the Chief Law Officer of the land will not endorse any deliberate attempt at aberration of the law and laid down procedures”, they stated, pointing out that the letter in question directing the employment of Shaw could not have emanated from the President.
According to them, the purported and unsubstantiated Presidential directive signed by the Principal Secretary to the President, Hakeem Muri-Okunola directing the NUPRC’s Executive Director, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe to employ Shaw as a director goes contrary to the established rules and regulations governing recruitment, promotion and cadre placement practices within the commission.
The workers stressed the need to uphold the principles of justice and fairness towards maintaining a harmonious working environment in the face of the President’s anti corruption war, calling for the swift reverse of such employment.
While pointing out that the recruitment of Shaw is a deviation from established procedures, said if allowed, would lead to an aberration of the law governing employment and promotion within the Commission.
The staff claimed that she “is only 39 years old with a debatable 19 years of experience”, adding that “going by the rules, Ms Olaide Shaw is not qualified for the role of a director which stipulates that the role of director, a person must have a minimum of a Degree in the relevant field with a minimum of 22 years post qualification experience, at least 15 years of which should be in the oil industry or allied activities and 12 years in a senior management position.”
The role of a director, they stated “is a natural career path for staff progression upon several promotions and not an appointment level”, maintaining that”the position is occupied based on federal character”.
“There is a clear distinction between political appointment and permanent pensionable recruitment in the Federal Civil Service guiding all MDAs. Ms. Olaide is currently a Manager at ExxonMobil Nigeria, the corresponding role for which translates into being at best a Deputy Manager to manager in the Commission.
“That there are several qualified acting directors that have rose through the ranks in the commission that are now sidelines for an unqualified and inexperienced illegal employment of Ms. Olaide as a Director in NUPRC,” the workers stressed.
They, however, said that failure to redress the anomaly by President Tinubu would have severe implications for the NUPRC to reduce staff motivation and morale, decrease trust and cooperation as well as setting a bad precedence.
The staff also accused the NUPRC boss for not paying their benefits and remittances of deducted funds to the staff co-operative.
They, therefore, called on President Tinubu to probe the alleged high level corruption under Komolafe as the commission’s Chief Executive, who was allegedly accused alongside former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Deizani Allison- Maduke
Similarly, they demanded for an investigation into the alleged missing 48 ship loads of crude oil that got lost between 2015 and 2016 for which the Komolafe was allegedly involved, as the Head of Crude Oil Export in the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.