ExxonMobil reverses Omo-Ojo, veteran image-maker’s sack three years after

After three years of his sack by Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, reprieve has come the way of a veteran image-maker, Ernest Omo-Ojo, following a successful mediation by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.

The sack letter given to him in June 2019 by Mobil, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, has been withdrawn.

Persecondnews reports that the minister had acted swiftly on a petition dispatched to his office by Omo-Ojo to protest the seeming arbitrary termination of his appointment by the multinational oil corporation.

In July 2021, the Minister inaugurated a three-man committee, all directors, from the Ministry to investigate the matter and make recommendations to him.

After about six months of its sittings, the committee in January 2022  recommended that ExxonMobil should rescind the termination of Omo-Ojo’s appointment and approved his retirement from service.

The decision was subsequently endorsed by the Minister and conveyed to ExxonMobil for compliance.

The Ministry has conformed that ExxonMobil has since accepted the decision and complied by withdrawing the termination letter issued on June 14, 2019 and replaced it with a retirement letter which was promptly dispatched to Omo-Ojo.

Prior to the termination of his employment, Omo-Ojo had received a suspension letter from MPNU on April 12, 2019, and on April 16, 2019, he submitted a petition to the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR (now Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority-NUPRC).

However, while arbitration was ongoing, Omo-Ojo received termination letter on June 14, 2019 thus subsequent meetings with the representatives of DPR and ExxonMobil to resolve the matter ended in a stalemate.

Dissatisfied by MPNU’s arbitrary action, Omo-Ojo filed a suit against the oil and gas multinational at the National Industrial Court, Abuja Division, seeking a nullification of the termination.

The matter was in court until the Minister’s intervention which led to his withdrawal of the matter for out-of-court mediation efforts.