As part of activities to mark the 2023 International Workers’ Day also known as May Day, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has given the award of outstanding employer of the year 2022 to Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL).
TUC also presented award to Bala Wunti, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer of NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services in recognition of his role in tackling crude oil theft.
The awards were presented to the winners by Boss Mustafa, the Secretary to the Federal Government and Rilwan Adamu, the Emir of Bauchi, represented by Usman Othman, the Emir of Dass at TUC’s maiden Dinner and Awards Night in Abuja on Saturday.
Other awardees included Governors
Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state.
They were recoginsed for payment of pensions and gratuity of retirees and general welfare of workers in their states.
TUC also recognised Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna Central Senator for outstanding role in activism; Philip Shuaibu, Edo state Deputy Governor and Peter Akpatason, the Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives for meritorious service.
Read also: How FCT community became open defecation-free
Festus Osifo, the TUC president in his remarks hailed Kyari for his leadership role in the transformation of NNPCL to a world class oil company with a formidable workforce.
According to Osifo, despite the numerous layoffs witnessed by several oil and gas industry players, the NNPCL has been resilient in promoting the interest and welfare of workers.
He said, “This Award is in recognition of your antecedents and outstanding contributions towards the promotion of workers’ rights and improvement of the welfare of workers in your organization, as well as being a major source of inspiration to both employers and workers.
“Through out the transformation process of the NNPC, no single worker was laid off and NNPC workers enjoy one of the best pay.”
While justifying the recognition of
Wunti the labour leader said: “Remember the issue of crude oil theft. There were people in the NNPCL. They designed a control room to monitored pipelines and Bala Wunti was there to ensure that the lines were safe.
“Today, we produce over 1.5 million of crude per day. The team are about 12 and he is a point of contact. Thank you for all you do.”
On the choice of the governors, he said while many have done well in payment of workers salaries, only the awardees prioritised welfare of retirees.
