Jide Ojo, former President of the Nigerian Association Of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), has left Addax Petroleum in Nigeria. He was the company’s General Manager for Exploration. At a well attended send forth party for him in a seaside Chinese restaurant in Lagos, he dismissed insinuations that he is a unique species among his generation of Nigerian technical professionals who work for multinationals. Mr Ojo has worked in the industry for 32 years and has moved around, working for Shell, ExxonMobil, Statoil, Global Energy and Addax.
“Perennial Mover?”, he questioned the phrase. “Only five moves in more than 32 years in the industry, with sometimes 6-10 years between moves, ultimately leading to voluntary exit from Addax (albeit three years before retirement age) sounds deliberately focussed/decisive rather than flighty, if you ask me”. He left Addax finally at the end of February 2013 after three more months working on contract as a Consultant. Asked if he was one of several experienced engineers and geologists invited to the company by the late Jim Pearce, Addax’s transformational former CEO, he responded quite formally. “Jeff Schrull’s incorporation of meinto the Addax family certainly had a Jim Pearce handle to it. Jeff was hired as Corporate GM Exploration based in Geneva and his mandate was to move the company further upstream by activating an exploration focus which was mostly non-existent at the time. I was then brought on board close to two years later to build up the corresponding Nigerian Exploration Business Unit”.
