Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor who retires at the end of this month, has been commended 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.
Okunbor, who retires after a career of over 39 years, 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. Okunbor also played 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 at a sendforth ceremony in Lagos last night, following on from a similar event in Abuja on Tuesday (June 24.) Marno described Osagie’s career as an inspiring journey and wished him a fruitful retirement.
President, Shell Upstream, Peter Costello who himself once served as Vice President, Nigeria and Gabon, flew in from Australia to bid Osagie farewell. He congratulated him on a successful career which he said 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.
