Francis Udoyen: A Square Peg in a Square Hole, Harnessing Substantive Experience in Managing Energy Crisis

Francis Udoyen: A Square Peg in a Square Hole, Harnessing Substantive Experience in Managing Energy Crisis

‎Since the inception of the union of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association Of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Akwa Ibom State nay Nigeria, with particular reference to the Akwa Ibom State Coordinating Unit, the leadership and hierarchical composition of the management team had/has never fared best than in the emergence/administration of Comrd. Francis Udoyen who has been in the business/petroleum sector for years counting.
‎
‎Udoyen lives,works, habitates and revolves his entire activities/programs in and out of the sector, therefore his emergence through an election of the union that he won convincingly with the massive, intimidating, overwhelming, unwavering and unflinching support solidarity of his colleagues in the supply product chain management of the petroleum sub-sector leaves no one with no iota of doubt that he’s capable to deliver as at when due.
‎
‎Two(2) years running smoothly with passion, determination, zeal, consistency, dedication, commitment, dexterity, desire and decorum in leadership, Udoyen has proven naysayers, confusionist, detractors, pettiness personified skunks, inferiority complex robbed minds and hypocritic eye-service de-marketing pretentious agents wrong that the organization they all branded is manned by shylocks has indeed evolved, metamorphosed and completely overhauled,having a human face to a most reliable referencing standpoint devoid of delimiting agitations that seemingly characterized previous administrations before his coming on board.
‎
‎Strike actions that were usually applied as a tool of extortionist manoeuvre orchestrated antics, shortchanging the consuming public to panic buying,long queues at filling stations, skyrocketing fuel prices, untold hardship and inflated prices of food stuff due to product supply unavailability has been drastically reduced.
‎
‎Within the lifespan of his administration in two(2) years,two strike actions was threatened to be embarked upon due to challenges that needed the prompt response/concerns of government to reducing the spate of incessant/ unwarranted harassment, intimidation, impounding, confiscation and outright destruction of petroleum marketers products by men of the dreaded Joint Task Force(JTF), constituting a nuisance to the effective, efficient and strategic synergy restitution of sanity into the sector has manifested in the positives.
‎
‎But Udoyen seeing to the need not to add to the already living standard burden/challenges of an average Akwa Ibom person heeded to the prompt intervention of the Governor,Umo Eno to relaxing the strike action setting up a steering committee to iron out those grey conflict confrontations between IPMAN and the JTF,and that’s a sign of a listening/accommodating leadership grandly exhibited so far in the history of the union.
‎
‎The most recent of strike action embarked upon by IPMAN shouldn’t be counted against the Udoyen led administration arising from the fact that the committee set up by the governor, codenamed Petroleum Price Monitoring Committee (PPMC) headed by Rt. Hon. Godwin Ekpo himself a petroleum marketer, onetime Chairman of Council and  former house of assembly member had/has neither briefed, given a feedback and they left the thread of conversation between the union incommunicado including not giving the governor proper details of the ongoing. The committee itself is a full composition of all security agencies including the Commissioner for Inland Security/Water Ways.
‎
‎For over one(1) year running since the last terrifying incident of JTF operatives confiscating a petroleum marketer’s two(2) trucks loads of product assumingly tagging it as a smuggled product without due investigation,burnt one and one remaining at large amounting to over 600 million naira,the owner now bedridden as a result of depression,who knows whether he got a bank loan for the transaction, neither the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Petroleum and the Petroleum Commissioner has taken any positive steps to redeeming/intervening according to the governor’s directive. No one will be happy about such, pushing IPMAN to the wall sure will come with a reaction but the one day strike action of few days back was quickly nipped in the bud the following day again with the reassurance of the governor to wading, salvaging and intervening once again.
‎
‎As a listening leader, Udoyen heeded and dropped the strike action calling on his members to down tool the implementation/execution,opening up their various businesses/outlets for sales inorder to ameliorating the sufferings of the masses, that’s the milk of human kindness he’s made of, harkening to the plight of humanity.
‎
‎Udoyen so far has shown capacity through his experience in the field,where the governor’s appointees have failed his administration,it behoves His Excellency wields the big stick, calling the shots no matter whose ox is gored to engaging willing, ready and experienced hands to evading future crisis bedeviling the petroleum sub-sector in the State.
‎
‎The economic stimulus, checks, impact and smooth sail of the state depends on the energy sector and this shouldn’t be treated with kid gloves.
‎
‎-Pat Reuben is a public affairs analyst writes in Awantong Ikot Eba-Etinan Nigeria