In the spirit of Saltvim 2021 - Part 2 | The Guar... https://guardian.ng/opinion/in-the-spirit-of-saltv...

Opinion

Columnists  

In the spirit of Saltvim 2021 – Part

2
By Michael Omolayole
22 December 2021   |   3:44 am

Bonga-Snepco Oil rig

I commend most sincerely the four organisations they worked for.  Mobile
Telephone Network (MTN), Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Shell Nigeria Exploration
and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO) and Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited. I
congratulate these progressive companies for believing in Nigerians and also
believing in Nigerianisation of the topmost management position.

It is no mean e�ort to search diligently for and �nd talented and virtuous
Nigerians. After a successful search, these organisations went further to train and
develop them and to try them out at various lower levels before promoting them

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to the pinnacle. It takes sincerity, courage and diligence to establish a workable

top management succession plan and to stick to the plan without giving excuses
for failure. It is much easier to make excuses than to get results.

Engagement with chairmen of some of the globalised companies still lagging

behind through dialogue

As promised last year, every opportunity available was taken to have dialogue with
many large globalised companies on the matter of top management succession
planning. It was hoped that the subject matter would be reported dutifully in every
annual report and accounts. It was also hoped that each audit committee of the
companies would pronounce on the matter in its report because it touches on the
seriousness of the audit of the management system, not just paying attention to
�nancial �gures.

Sadly, no annual report and accounts of the companies that were dialogued with,
lived up to the expectation. Again there were excuses; the biggest culprits belong
to FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Groups). It is hoped that the 2022 scorecards of
these companies will be much better.

Three very large members of the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Group) appointed
expatriates as new CEOs in the year 2021 in replacement of the expatriates who
left. None of the three companies felt obliged to explain to Nigerians exactly what
was going on in spite of the dialogue with them in the year 2020. We can only hope
that what is going on is not a dialogue between two deaf, dumb and blind
constituencies. The directors of Communication in these companies whose
photographs adorn the pages of the Nigerian Newspapers several times in a
month should read this essay and pass the contents to their expatriate CEOs/
Bosses and through them to the headquarters of the international conglomerates.

As it happened last year, something heart-warming occurred towards the end of

this year. It was the elevation of the �rst Nigerian/lady, to the position of CEO of
Procter and Gamble Nigeria (P&G), Mrs Mokutima Ajileye. I most heartily
congratulate Mrs Ajileye for smashing this particular “glass ceiling” with double
e�ects. To the best of my knowledge, the position has never been held by any
Nigerian, man or woman and therefore in the Nigeria parlance, “I throw salute”!

On behalf of SALTVIM I also congratulate warmly and heartily Procter and Gamble
the famous consumer company with International Headquarters in Cincinnati
Ohio, USA. I know a lot about them.  I know how thorough and how professional
an International Company it is. By the grace of God she will be invited by SALTVIM
for a Merit Award on Thursday September 29, 2022. The members of SALTVIM

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pray for more good news especially from the FMC group. To Procter and Gamble I
say bravo! I refrain from naming names of companies that lag behind because this
will look like shaming them. However I sincerely hope and pray that they will read
this essay and turn over a new leaf.

Once again to my dear friends in the FMC group, (I do truly have many friends
there) if Procter and Gamble can do it, you too can do it !   I do know for certain
that some of the companies reading this may probably say inaudibly “with friends
like you we don’t need an enemy”!

I am inviting the foreign embassies representing the countries of origin of the

international conglomerates in Nigeria to take an interest in the essays from
SALTVIM, appearing in the national newspapers, in particular in The Guardian
and join us in a dialogue if they so wish. We in SALTVIM are asking for the most
peaceful way of making a change!

Merry Christmas to my readers and Happy New Year in advance.

Concluded

Omolayole is former CEO of Lever Brothers Nigeria Limited now Unilever Nigeria
Plc.

In this article

MTN Procter and Gamble SNEPCo

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