A sociopolitical pressure group under the aegis of The Voice has described as misleading comments credited to some senior citizens of the Ijaw Nation alleging lopsided appointments by the Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government.
The group in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Security, Christopher Matthew described as disheartening a situation where respected stakeholders of the Ijaw nation make statements capable creating animosity between the South-South and the Federal Government over allocation of positions of trust.
The Voice recalled that on the 4th of December, 2021, in an all Ijaw summit held in Izonwari, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state with the theme “The Nigerian State And The Ijaw Question”, a statement was credited to an Elder Statesman, Justice Francis Tabai (retired) during his presentation.
Group quoted Justice Tabai as saying that the FG recently made 23 key appointments into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) out of which 20 where from the North, 1 for South-East, 1 for South-South and one for the South-West and no Ijaw man was there.
The group further said “for the records, section 53(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 empowers the Honourable Minister of Petroleum to constitute a board within six months, which he has not only complied with, one of our Ijaw daughters, Barrister Constance Marshall Harry is representing South-South Region in the Board.
“Barr. Constance who is the daughter of our renown Ijaw leader, Late Chief Marshall Harry, is a legal luminary, seasoned politician and advocate of women empowerment in Nigeria.
“Upon research, we where able to find out that, we are even very few in our pursuit to hold positions of authority in the NNPC by career.
“However, last year July 2020, based on capacity building and commitment, the President of the federal republic of Nigeria approved the redeployment of personnel to man key positions for greater efficiency of the NNPC and one of our sons, Engr. Adokiye Tombomieye was favoured into the Executive Management.
“Before his elevation as Group Managing Director, Upstream, he had over 30 years experience in the Oil and Gas industry. As a young man who hails from oil producing community, he was ambitious to change that negative impression about the Ijaw people.
“He graduated from the prestigious Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt as a Chemical Engineer and later a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and also the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers amongst others. He has gone through the rank and files in the industry.
“His competence, loyalty and dependability to the growth of NNPC has earned him his current feat and he is humbly carrying out his duties professionally.
“Engr. Adokiye Tombomieye is a hardworking husband and result oriented with a penchant in positively impacting on people he comes across. He hails from a community where oil was discovered in commercial quantity in 1958, Bille, an ancient Ijaw kingdom in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.”
The Voice, which is a composition of likeminds in the South-South region, urged leaders of the region to do proper research without sentiments attached so as not to create an impression of ungratefulness to the President Buhari-led Federal Government.
“We say this with no disrespect to stakeholders of our region, rather to support the few Ijaw sons and daughters in helm of authorities in any sector,” the group added.
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