The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has retired no fewer than 40 Group General Managers (GGMs) and General Managers (GMs) at the oil firm.

It was gathered on Thursday in Abuja that the affected GGMs and GMs were asked to leave the employ of the oil firm on Wednesday.

Sources at the corporation also stated that the re-organization touched other very senior positions at the headquarters of the national oil firm, as well as in some of its subsidiaries.

“The one that is raising concern at the corporation is that most or all the top management staff from M-3 to M-4 who are due for retirement within a year were asked to leave yesterday (Wednesday),” an impeccable source told our correspondent in Abuja.

It was gathered that group general managers were on M-3, while general managers were categorized on M-4.

The GGMs, who operate from the corporate headquarters are equivalent to managing directors of subsidiaries of the corporation, while the GMs, who work at the subsidiaries, are equivalent to executive directors.

The source added, “About 40 GGMs and GMs were asked to leave, as they were retired by the corporation yesterday (Wednesday). Most of those affected are also not happy because they felt they were not due for retirement.

“However, they were all asked to leave yesterday and that is raising dust and concern among staff at the corporation.”

On what was the reason why they were asked to resign, the source stated that the management said it was done for the upcoming employees to have positions to fill.

The source added, “But ask yourself this question, how long will it take the upcoming staff to get to those positions?

“The system is currently heated up and employees from certain regions of the country are not happy about this.”

Another source stated that a top chief operating officer was redeployed to head another department that was viewed as lesser than his previous office.

The source said, “As at this week, the corporation witnessed a massive shakeup. The management had to readjust some prominent positions.

“One of such is the movement of a top chief operating officer from a position that he only assumed last year to another position of COO that is not comparable to his former office.”

This, according to sources, was not welcomed by some persons in the corporation, especially those from the region where the affected COO hailed from.

“Another issue is that in the corporation, we have two categories of subsidiaries, the ones considered as redundant and the ones considered as grade A subsidiaries, such as NAPIMS, NPDC, shipping, NNPC Trading, PPMC,” a source said.

The source further stated that “under the present dispensation, one would have expected some form of balancing in terms of postings to these subsidiaries. But as it is right now, most of the positions in these subsidiaries are headed by people from one region of the country.”

When contacted, the acting spokesperson of the corporation, Samson Makoji, did not confirm any of the development, but insisted that the corporation would issue a statement if there was need for such.

“If we are doing something, we will officially announce it. So let’s just leave it at that,” he stated.