The nomination of Jean-Marc Cordier as the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited’s oil trading division has sparked a variety of worries among operators and professionals in the sector, Entrepreneurng report.
The company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Garba-Deen Muhammad, revealed that Cordier would lead NNPC Trading Ltd, a subsidiary of NNPCL, in a statement released in Abuja.
However other specialists saw nothing wrong with the situation, the revelation on Monday caused animosity among analysts and operators.
Bode Fadipe, a leader in the energy sector and the CEO of Sage Consulting, said that most Nigerians find it concerning that a foreigner is still running such a crucial industry in their nation.
Don’t we have Nigerians who can run that office, a lot of people will wonder. Or is it a joint venture that permits a foreigner to hold that kind of position? Are the expatriates now shareholders in the company?
Is NNPC Ltd. selling its shares to the general public? To the best of my understanding, the Nigerian government continues to be the owner of the NNPCL shares. When did it begin appointing foreigners to such a level considering that it is still owned by the government?
Fadipe described the development as unusual, saying it was the first time he had ever seen such an appointment at the national oil firm.
It is unusual, in my opinion. The energy analyst said, “I’m not sure what would have motivated that kind of stance, but I believe it is a case that warrants additional investigation.
However, Professor Yemi Oke, a legal adviser and expert on energy law, asserted that NNPCL should be a going concern under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 since there were prerequisites for appointments in the statute.
Other Nigerian businesses hire foreigners; all they have to do is adhere to the expatriate quota and demonstrate that there isn’t local labor available that is qualified to staff that particular office owing to the position’s technical requirements, he said.
The head of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, also offered his thoughts on the situation, saying that NNPCL should try to support the federal government’s initiative to promote local content.
Does that imply that there aren’t any capable Nigerians who could perform the same task in terms of local content promotion? Being a national enterprise, NNCPL has the responsibility of refining petroleum products.
In conclusion, the fact that it is currently searching for a foreigner indicates that it is going in the wrong direction. Has it always been a firm that markets oil? In my opinion, this element of the action was misaligned.
Source: Punch
