The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, on Thursday said the company is under attack from people who do not mean well for Nigeria.
The NNPC disclosed this in a statement on Thursday evening.
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According to the statement, Mr Ojulari disclosed this while playing host to a delegation from the national body of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Thursday.
Mr Ojulari said the attacks are aimed at undermining the ongoing transformation efforts in the company.
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He said because change always comes with a price, the NNPC management will not succumb to such attacks. Instead, he said, it will work for the larger interest of Nigerians.
“We are under attack. We will not budge to short-term pressure, as it will not be in the best interest of Nigerians. You cannot drive change without a price, and the transformation is tough,” Mr Ojulari said.
He emphasised that patience will be required from the Nigerian people at large to get to the other side of change, which will benefit Nigeria and her citizens.
He reiterated his commitment to stay focused in driving the mandate given to the team by President Bola Tinubu.
While thanking the leadership of the Union for its support, Mr Ojulari assured them to stay calm and build resilience to stay focused during these trials.
“I am overwhelmed with the support from the union executives present here. The enemies of this company and Nigerians will not win,” he added.
He said since coming on board about five months ago, his management team prioritised reviving the nation’s refineries in order to put them back into more sustainable and profitable ventures by considering the Incorporated Joint Venture (IJV) model.
“Mr President, don’t pressure me to do the wrong thing. That is why we are looking at the baseline to ensure whatever we are doing, the refineries work sustainably going forward. We don’t want to pretend and just do some quick fix because there is pressure on us,” he added.
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Earlier in April, President Bola Tinubu sacked the board of the NNPC Ltd, including its GCEO, Mele Kyari, and board chairperson Pius Akinyelure.
The president also approved Mr Ojulari as the new GCEO of the NNPC and Ahmadu Kida as non-executive chairperson. NNPC also announced the appointment of a new eight-member senior management team.
Same April, NNPC sacked the managing directors of the three state-owned refineries. The company also directed management staff with less than a year to retirement to proceed on exit.
In recent times, the NNPC Ltd has faced intense scrutiny, with protesters demanding the resignation of Mr Ojulari over allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
