IF news reports about the reason for the sudden sack of the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Andrew Yakubu, are anything to go by, something must be apparent by now. And that is: whoever wants to last in the office must observe this first commandment — always be in the good books of the petroleum minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke is like the proverbial cat with nine lives. As far as President Goodluck Jonathan is concerned, she is a super-minister in whom he is well pleased, notwithstanding the reservations many Nigerians have about her.
Not a few people were shocked by the sudden removal of the former NNPC boss on August 1, and his replacement with Dr Joseph Thlama Dawha. Yakubu was the third NNPC GMD to serve under Mrs Alison-Madueke; that is in four years. We have had Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo who was sacked the same day Mrs Alison-Madueke became minister, so we cannot say whether she had any hand in his exit. But Alhaji Shehu Ladan who succeeded him spent barely six weeks before he was removed. Then Austen Oniwon who was NNPC GMD from May 2010 to June 2012.
According to reports, Yakubu’s sack was caused by irreconcilable differences between him and the petroleum minister. These include incessant sack of highly-skilled professionals in the corporation; sharp differences on policies affecting oil and gas industry; alienation of International Oil Companies (IOCs); opposition to the minister’s court action against the House of Representatives to stop the probe into alleged N10billion she allegedly spent on chartered jets; non-availability of the minister when crucial decisions are required; and pile-up of files on matters affecting the industry.
Mrs Alison-Madueke has characteristically not uttered a word since Yakubu’s exit. This should get us worried as a nation; if only for the huge investments the nation made on the affected personnel. Indeed, it should get President Jonathan worried: how come one minister has survived three group managing directors in a critical parastatal as the NNPC in just four years? Has it ever occurred to the president that the minister could be the problem, and therefore the one that should go?
We know that Nigeria’s oil sector stinks. But, if there is anyone who should lose his or her job in the petroleum ministry, it is the minister. This much had been canvassed since the January 2012 fuel subsidy protest. Mrs Alison-Madueke presided (and still presides) over the huge racket that the subsidy represents. Under her very watch, Nigeria paid humongous sums to people who never imported fuel under the subsidy regime. Moreover, the minister has been accused of spending about N10billion on chartered jets in two years. This has been a subject of probe by the House of Representatives but, instead of going to the House to defend herself, she has been employing all kinds of subterfuge to prevent the inquisition. Now, we have on our hands a situation where someone who is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a symbol of corruption has now become the executioner.
It is sad that what should be a strategic sector is now being governed by the whims and caprices of politicians. It is sadder still because quick turnover of high profile personnel in any sector, not in the least the oil sector, makes accountability and transparency difficult, if not impossible. The nation cannot afford such job insecurity for highly skilled personnel in the sector.
If those being arbitrarily removed committed any infractions, these should be made public. It is not enough to just sack them without any reasons, and so intermittently, even if we agree that he who hires can also fire. Such undue interference in the operation of the corporation by politicians with all kinds of interests has not really helped the NNPC. It is part of the reasons we also feel the corporation has outlived its usefulness.
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