Amidst the growing cries of unemployment and underemployment by Nigerian youths and having applied to the 2019 NNPC recruitment and assessed through all stages of aptitude and interviews, the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is yet to provide necessary feedback.
There are emerging reports that underground recruitments tainted with nepotism have always undermined the quality of employment at the nation’s oil and gas company.
In 2019 there were widely advertised vacancies at the NNPC which received applications from thousands of Nigerian youths which gave a seemingly transparent outlook. However, 19 months down the line, the young professionals that attended the recruitment interview are yet to be informed of the status. The applicants who have been expressing frustration on this delay via the twitter handle of the corporation @NNPCgroup expressed lack of transparency and accountability from the NNPC management regarding the recruitment process.
While some people alluded to the fact that NNPC has a culture of conducting inconclusive recruitments in the past, some of the youths believe that attention is not given to the poor masses but rather the process is usually hijacked by the elite and ruling class for the benefit of their children (as correctly observed by Henry Shield @henryshield.).
The hashtag #NNPC2019ehclosure on twitter has been used by these Nigerians to highlight their plight but they have lamented that they are met with dead silence from the NNPC. However these youths have been relentless on the call to @NNPCgroup through their official twitter handle asking for the prompt conclusion of the recruitment by the management of the NNPC, the government and indeed President Muhammadu Buhari who also doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
The graduate trainee component of the exercise has since been completed leaving the young professionals in the experienced hire category in limbo without notice of the interview outcome or resumption date.
They said that the last time they heard anything from the NNPC management regarding their recruitment was in June 2020 from the NAPE webinar series where Mr. Mele Kyari, the GMD, was asked to comment on the recruitment due to outcry of the applicants.
The response from the GMD “that the process will be concluded soon” only added more frustration to the waiting applicants. This kind of response is believed to be unfair and insensitive to these Nigerians who are not only stakeholders in the corporation but professionals who are willing and available to bring to bear their professionalism and skills to the industry and indeed the country at large.
World over, there is no recruitment conducted by a supposed world class company that lasts this long, worse still, with no communication on the status which should have given applicants assurance of transparency and accountability that the NNPC management profess in the much acclaimed ‘TAPE’ mantra.
The continued silence on the outcome of the 2019 experienced hires component of the recruitment smacks of suspicion. Hence, while the shabby handling of the NNPC 2019 recruitment process amounts to a disgrace to the standard of the corporation, judging by global best practices, it is also doing a huge disservice to the young professionals in Nigeria who are ready contribute to the reforms at NNPC but are disillusioned with the feeling that the President’s lofty promise of creating jobs for the unemployed and underemployed youths is merely a lip service.
Summary of the timelines of the NNPC 2019 Recruitment process is as follows:
1. Call for applications on 13th of March, 2019
2. Computer Based Test (CBT) held in various centers across the country on the 1st of June, 2019
3. Interviews conducted centrally at the organization’s corporate headquarters in Abuja between the 1st and 11th of July 2019
4. Announcement of successful graduate trainees on the 14th of February, 2020
The ugly experience of these Nigerian youths is a reflection of the fate of young professionals in Nigeria who for so long have been abandoned and poorly treated by the Nigerian system. Key issues and questions that arise from the experience of these youths who are left in the dark nineteen months after their interview include the following; how transparent and accountable is the recruitment process at NNPC? Is there a sincerity of purpose by those at the helm of affairs at the NNPC and do they care about its corporate behavior?
The GMD of NNPC has touted its TAPE (transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence) mantra to the country and indeed the world but these values do not seem to have been given effect in the 2019 recruitment process at the National Oil Company. Those who are saddled with the responsibility of governing the NNPC should demonstrate fairness, transparency and response-ability in their governance approach. Not reacting to the yearnings of thousands of Nigerians who wish to know their fate after participating in the NNPC 2019 recruitment process is not in the interest of transparency, fairness and sustainability of the NNPC.
It is said that ethics is the new competitive advantage in the 21st century and indeed NNPC has a lot of reputational issues which must be addressed. Hence it is necessary that those at the helm of affairs at the NNPC rather than engage in denial, should really begin to become accountable to their duties and responsibilities. Transparency comes with accountability and better corporate behaviour.
Going forward therefore, the management led by Mallam Kyari is hereby requested to match his words with action and show the world that his reforms at NNPC can be believed to be truly transparent by releasing forthwith, the outcome of the EH interviews completed in 2019. The management of NNPC is encouraged to seriously rethink their values in the way and manner they handle recruitments in the country.
The attention of the Minister of Petroleum, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari, is also sought by this publication, for his directives to the NNPC GMD to without further delay implement the release of the list of the successful experienced hire candidates of the recruitment considering his open disposition to transparency, accountability and fairness in activities of government.
It is their hope that this listening government will intervene swiftly and bring this lingering recruitment since 2019 to a final determination in order to arrest the building resentment and frustration on the common man especially to also discredit the popular viewpoint of Nigerians that only children of the elites and ruling class are employed by government agencies. Nigerians should be given an equal and fair chance to thrive in their country through transparent recruitment processes at government MDAs.
The youths are only asking for employment letters to candidates who have been adjudged successful from the rigorous assessment stages without any further delay.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Favour Gerry,
