By Francis Sadhere

THE Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radica Change (NDIMRC) has applauded the Minister of State for Petroleum and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachukwu for the unbundling of the Corporation into 30 companies.

Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, Minister for Petroleum (State) and GMD, NNPC.

The oil monitoring group also condemned the strike action by  oil workers over the unbundling of the Corporation.

In a press statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer (PRO) Stanley Mukoro, the group hailed Dr. Kachukwu over the unbundling of NNPC.

While saying that the Minister has done the right thing, the group urged Nigerian Senators and members ofthe House of Representatives to support the unbundling of the Corporation and give the Minister the necessary backing.

According to the group; ” The unbundling of the NNPC will go a long way in eliminating bureaucracy in the operations of the Corporation and as it is now, each of the constituent units in the restructuring will be profit driven”.

“We are also in full support of the conversion of the Group Executive Directors (GEDs) by the Minister to Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and their redeployment to the various business components,” the group said.

It also stated that, “The former GEDs never helped the Corporation as they were behind the frequent fuel scarcity in the country and strikes by oil workers. Since the former GEDs have so much money, they used their money to frustrate all plans of the Federal Government to make NNPC a better place. Nigerians are going to reap the benefits of the unbundling of the NNPC very soon.”

“All moves made in the past to reposition  NNPC for profitability were thwarted by the former GEDs. They never helped the Corporation as they connived with oil majors to create artificial fuel scarcity in the country. They also sponsored strikes by oil workers,” the group claimed.

Calling on Nigerian lawmakers to throw their weight behind the unbundling of the NNPC by Dr. Kachikwo, the group said, “Going on strike  this moment by oil workers as a result of the unbundling exercise is not the best. We should all give our support to the Minister. Our senators and members of the House of Representatives should give legislative backing to Dr. Kachikwo over the restructuring of the NNPC because that is the way to go.”

According to the group also, “There should be no fear of job loss among the staff of the Corporation and so oil workers should not allow themselves to be used by some elements, especially the former GEDs to go on strike over the restructuring being carried out by the minister.”

“The minister is not ready to sack any worker as a result of the unbundling and so the strike by the oil workers is uncalled for. The former GED for Explorations and Productions who in the past announced himself as the GMD of the NNPC and other GEDs are behind the strike action because they do not want to leave their positions. But they must be moved as we are in a new dawn to reposition the Corporation. It should be made clear here that the former GEDs who are currently sponsoring various groups to kick against the restructuring of the NNPC to cause a chaotic situation in the country are not going to be sacked by the Minister, but to be moved from their positions.

“The Dr. Kachikwu that we know is not a failure and the glory of God is upon him. He is God fearing and we should all support him as he wants nothing but the best for the Oil and Gas sector in the country.”

The group also used the medium to appeal to the Minister to look into the cases of NNPC workers he retired prematurely on resumption of office as the GMD of the Corporation.

“We want to implore the Minister to look into the cases of those he retired prematurely on resumption as GMD of NNPC. Those that have clean records should be recalled by the Minister.”