Page 36 The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has retired about 40 Group General Managers, GGMs, and General Managers, GMs, at the oil firm.
It was gathered on Thursday, in Abuja, that the affected GGMs and GMs were asked to leave the oil firm.
Sources at the Corporation also stated that the reorganisation touched other very senior positions at the Headquarters of the National Oil Firm, as well as in some of its subsidiaries.
“The one that is raising concern at the Corporation, is that most or all the top management staff from M-3 to M-4 who are due for retirement within a year,were asked to leave”, an impeccable source revealed, in Abuja.
It was gathered that Group General Managers were on M-3, while the General Managers were categorised on M-4.
The GGMs, who operate from the Corporate Headquarters, are equivalent to Managing Directors of subsidiaries of the Corporation, while the GMs, who work at the subsidiaries, are equivalent to Executive Directors.
The source added: “About 40 GGMs and GMs were asked to leave, as they were retired by the Corporation, yesterday. Most of those affected are also not happy, because they felt they were not due for retirement.
“However, they were all asked to leave yesterday, and that is raising dust and concern among staff at the Corporation.”
On what was the reason why they were asked to resign, the source stated that the management said it was done for the upcoming employees to have positions to fill.
The source added: “But ask yourself this question, how long will it take the upcoming staff to get to those positions?
“The system is currently heated up, and employees from certain regions of the country are not happy about this.”
Another source stated that a top Chief Operating Officer was redeployed to head another department that was viewed as lesser than his previous Office.
The source stated: “As at this week, the Corporation witnessed a massive shakeup. The management had to readjust some prominent positions.
“One of such is the movement of a top Chief Operating Officer from a position that he only assumed last year, to another position of COO, that is not comparable to his former Office.”
This, according to sources, was not welcomed by some persons in the Corporation, especially those from the region where the affected COO hails from.
“Another issue is that in the Corporation, we have two categories of subsidiaries, the ones considered as redundant, and the ones considered as grade A subsidiaries, such as NAPIMS, NPDC, Shipping, NNPC Trading, PPMC”, a source said.
The source further stated that: “Under the present dispensation, one would have expected some form of balancing, in terms of postings to these subsidiaries. But as it is right now, most of the positions in these subsidiaries are headed by people from one region of the country.”
