- Safiu Kehinde
Stakeholders of multinational oil company, Shell, have hailed retired Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, for his role and record in the development of the oil and gas industry, especially the growth of Nigerian content and impactful social investments in communities across the Niger Delta and the rest of the country.
This was made known in a statement issued on Friday following a sendforth ceremony held in Lagos in celebration of Okunbor, who retired after a career of over 39 years.
According to the statement the ex-Shell Country Chair was commended for ploughing back his wealth of experience to pursuing the Shell vision of powering progress in Nigeria through the companies he led at management or board level – The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd., (SPDC), Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd, (SNEPCo) Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG), Shell Nigeria Closed Pension Fund Administrator, All On and Daystar Power.
The stakeholders also hailed him for playing a leading role in the acquisition of SPDC by Renaissance, in a notable example of empowerment of Nigerian companies.
“We celebrate a legacy of momentum by someone who enjoyed widespread respect in the industry, communities and government,” Shell’s Executive Vice President, Nigeria, Marno de Jong, said during his remark.
Marno described Osagie’s career as an inspiring journey and wished him a fruitful retirement.
On his part, President, Shell Upstream, Peter Costello who himself once served as Vice President, Nigeria and Gabon, congratulated him on a successful career.
Costello who flew in from Australia to bid Osagie farewell described said Othe ex-Country Chair’s career was marked by “calm and collected management of crisis, courageous leadership and authenticity.”
His remarks were echoed by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari who said the oil and gas industry expected Osagie to weigh in with the qualities that have endeared him to stakeholders.
He said: “We want you to bring the same visionary leadership, resilience and strategic thinking to the industry so Nigeria can benefit more from this wealth of experience.”
In his response, Osagie said: “39 years is not a short time and I’m grateful to God for the grace to go through this period. I’m also grateful to everyone, friends and colleagues within and outside the country and mentors who helped me to forge a long career in Shell. My wife has been a pillar in my journey and I’m extremely grateful for her support and the rest of the family.”
The management of All On had earlier held a luncheon in honour of Okunbor in Lagos on Wednesday (June 25), during which the Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Eboumbou, thanked him for his support as pioneer chairman since it began operations in 2016.
He helped to guide the non-profit organisation in the fulfilment of its mission “to increase access to commercial energy products and services for under-served and un-served off-grid energy markets in Nigeria, with a special focus on the Niger Delta.” Among other achievements, All On has enabled over 200,000 off-grid connections and impacted more than 1 million lives in Nigeria.