Who’s Afraid of NNPCL’s Eyesan?

IN recent days, there has been a plethora of media attacks on the person of the Executive Vice President, Upstream Operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan. However, those who have worked closely with Eyesan know that the persons behind these emergency groups, hurriedly cobbled together for the purpose of distracting this modern-day Amazon of the oil and gas sector, are only wasting their time. Suffice to say that the unwarranted attacks and seeming blackmail against the EVP look like a familiar game to arm-twist her to backpedal on her mission to make NNPC’s upstream one of the best globally and indeed become responsive to the contemporary demands of the sector. As the bedrock of the oil and gas industry and literally the fountain from which every other thing flows, the choice of Eyesan to lead the upstream segment of the NNPC couldn’t have come at a better time. The appointing authority certainly knows the stuff this focused and patriotic Nigerian is made of—that she will not be swayed by ethnic sentiments or cheap blackmail when very critical decisions are being taken.

Since she was elevated to that position, Eyesan has shown that she can hold her own anywhere. She appeared to have quickly understood the enormity of the task before her and immediately went to work. For the EVP Upstream, the only plausible interest remains that of Nigeria. Anything aside pursuing what is good for the country, to Eyesan will get a big ‘No’ as a response from the lady, easily one of Nigeria’s most brilliant professionals in the industry today. Those who seek to take advantage of the country’s fragile fault lines to advance their narrow and selfish interests, including one chief who coordinates the faceless Niger Delta Forum For Truth And Justice, must know by now that the plan has failed even before take-off. The claim of this person that he is speaking for the Urhobo people and trying to link Eyesan to the award of a surveillance contract to Pipelines Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) because of her Itsekiri origin falls flat in the face of logic. In any case, the contracts to secure the oil assets by locals already existed before Eyesan was elevated to the position of EVP Upstream. How she could have “unilaterally” awarded a contract that pre-dated her appointment beats any iota of common sense.

Within the short time she has headed the Upstream segment of the NNPC, Eyesan has deployed her conflict resolution skills to quell a major oil workers’ uprising that would have grounded the industry, leading the talks to restore about 275,000 bpd that would have been lost to shut-ins. She has signed on behalf of NNPC Ltd. for the adoption and deployment of a methane detection technology known as Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Application (AUSEA) in all its upstream operations to curtail emissions in NNPC’s operations. Working with global partners in the march towards reducing methane emissions in oil and gas operations, Eyesan has committed to the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter which calls on the oil and gas sector to achieve the goal of reaching net-zero emissions for their own operations by 2050. She has focused on fostering innovation, adopting emerging technologies, and implementing portfolio management as key drivers of success in the evolving energy landscape as Nigeria charts a sustainable energy future and wages a formidable war against energy poverty.

“We are set for business. We have three principles for our survival: profitability, energy transition, and sustainability drive,” she recently declared. That’s someone who knows the great task she has been shouldered with. Under her watch at the upstream segment, the NNPC has struck a deal with the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to reduce contracting cycle to an optimal level of not more than 180 working days from over 300 days. In just over a quarter that Eyesan has overseen NNPC’s upstream operations, Nigeria has steadily grown its oil production volume to roughly 1.7 million barrels per day, including condensate. There are indications that in January, with the leadership of Eyesan at the upstream of the NNPC, Nigeria may have actually met and exceeded its renegotiated 1.5 million barrels per day Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota. Indeed, the facts speak for themselves. For someone who has more than three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector, these achievements in such a short time did not come as a surprise. So, those faceless persons calling for her removal based on their selfish interest must be put on notice that she did not get to where she is by being close to a godfather or godmother, as it were.

So, to sacrifice competence, passion, resilience and eagle-eyed focus on the altar of where one hails from or whoever she’s close to does not only smack of gross irresponsibility, but is abundantly immoral. Here is a lady that virtually climbed from the lowest rung of the ladder to head upstream by dint of hard work. Here is a woman who has held at least 10 previous positions at the NNPC before her latest elevation, discharging her responsibilities excellently. Here’s a woman that has brokered some of the most ground-breaking deals on behalf of the NNPC. To attribute her rise to ethnicity is not only a disservice to her, but it’s the height of mischief.

• Abayomi, an advocate for gender equality, writes in from Abuja.