Concerns as NNPCL hires expatriate to head subsidiary

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.

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.

Energy expert and Chief Executive Officer, Sage Consulting, Bode Fadipe, said, “It is of concern to most Nigerians that at this time of our life we are still having a foreigner in such a strategic business enterprise in this country.

“The question many people will ask is that, don’t we have Nigerians who can manage that office? Are the expatriates now investors in the business or is it a joint venture that allows a foreigner to hold that kind of position?

“Has NNPC Ltd sold its shares to the public? To the best of my knowledge, it is still the Nigerian government that owns the shares in NNPCL. It is still owned by the government, so when did it start appointing foreigners to such a level?”

Fadipe said this was the first time he would see such an appointment in the national oil company, describing the development as abnormal.

“I think it is an anomaly. I don’t know what would have informed that kind of position, but I think it is a situation that calls for further interrogation,” the energy analyst stated.

Prof. Yemi Oke, a legal adviser and expert on energy law, countered that NNPCL should be a going concern under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 since there were conditions for appointments.

“There are other Nigerian companies that have expatriates as employees, all they need is to comply with the expatriate quota and show that there’s no local manpower skilled enough to man that particular office, due to the technical nature of the position,” he stated.

Punch reports that commercially viable subsidiaries of NNPCL would be managed by expatriates, going forward.