1,000 NNPC New Recruits Resume May 4 … As Shell cuts shareholders dividend

Chinazor Megbolu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC has said that 1,000 graduate trainees newly recruited by the corporation will resume on May 4, 2020.

The organisation disclosed this on Friday through a statement from the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Kennie Obateru.

Obateru explained that the trainees are to assume duty first, even as the organisation monitors the Covid-19 situation and the Federal Government’s directives towards working out a modality of a date the graduate trainees will assume duty physically.

He also hinted that the option of virtual assumption of duty was as a result of the need to comply with protocol on social distancing.

Another reason he mentioned was to reduce number of people in workplace, among other guidelines introduced by government.

Obateru maintained that the trainees had completed their online documentation, and will commence virtual on boarding come Monday May 4, 2020.

Furthermore, the statement pointed out that the Group Managing Director, be NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, was elated about the assumption of duty of the graduate trainees, whom he described as part of the succession plan to assure the future of the Corporation.

The statement revealed that Kyari, while congratulating the graduate trainees, charged them to live up to expectations as much is expected of them.

Obateru, however, noted that assumption of duty of the graduate trainees will mark the successful completion of the 2019/2020 recruitment exercise.

In another development, Shell Petroleum Corporation had on Thursday cut its dividend to shareholders for the first time since World War II.

The oil giant disclosed that the cut followed a dramatic drop in oil prices amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the board of the company had decided to reduce the oil major’s first-quarter dividend to $0.16 per share, down from $0.47 at the end of 2019 showing a reduction of 66 per cent.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Royal Dutch Shell, Mr Chad Holliday, “Shareholder returns are a fundamental part of Shell’s financial framework.

“However, given the risk of a prolonged period of economic uncertainty, weaker commodity prices, higher volatility and uncertain demand outlook, the Board believes that maintaining the current level of shareholder distributions is not prudent”.

Shell also stated that net income attributable to shareholders on a Current Cost of Supplies (CCS) basis with the exclusion of identified items, used as a proxy for net profit, came in at $2.9 billion for the first quarter of 2020.

The statement also averred that the cut is compared with $5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019, which shows a year-on-year fall of 46 per cent.