PENGASSAN stabilised after leadership succession reforms — Osifo

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA —PRESIDENT of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN Comrade Festus Osifo, at the weekend, said the union has resolved the leadership succession issues that once sparked tensions during transitions. Osifo, who stated this at a memorial event held in Abuja to mark the seventh anniversary of the association’s former President, the late Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson, described the reform as one of the key legacies of his administration. Johnson died on May 31, 2019, at the National Hospital, Abuja after a brief illness.

The PENGASSAN President said that Johnson’s sudden death initially plunged the union into confusion, but it soon regrouped and carried on with its mission. According to him:”He passed on suddenly, and PENGASSAN was thrown into some level of confusion. When a leader passes on, you keep running from pillar to post.

After his death, we picked ourselves together and have been able to journey on. “When a leader passes on, what one should do is to look at the positive attributes of such a leader and try to imbibe them because that is the best way to immortalise such leaders. Today, we are here to celebrate the life and times of our past president, Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson.” Going down memory lane, he noted that PENGASSAN, established in 1978, remains one of Nigeria’s foremost trade unions, bringing together highly skilled professionals from across the oil and gas industry.

“With an assembly of intelligent people, everyone has his or her own ideas, and there will naturally be contestation of ideas. Over the years, this created some teething issues during leadership transitions,” he said. The PENGASSAN President, who is also President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, of Nigeria, said the union undertook constitutional reforms to ensure a smoother succession process.

He explained that an amendment unanimously adopted in August last year introduced a succession model similar to that used by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). “Under the model, the office of the president is no longer contested. Instead, members contest for the position of Deputy President, who automatically succeeds to the presidency.

This reduces the tension and acrimony that usually accompany leadership transitions,” the PENGASSAN leader said. He said the new arrangement has already produ…