By Akpan Udo-Inyang
CALABAR -The National Patriotic Front for Tinubu (NPFFT) has sought for intervention of the Federal Character Commission on the 2026 promotion exercise of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
It has also appealed to the relevant Senate oversight committees on petroleum resources to request the promotion records and ensure that the matter received a fair and timely hearing
Addressing journalists in Calabar on Tuesday, Director-General of NPFFT, Castro Ezama, asked for an independent review of the promotion exercise, arguing that the state-of-origin distribution and decision-making process in the promotion exercise, should be examined.
Following the reported absence of Cross River State indigenes from the list of 106 promoted staff, Ezama, alleged that the promotions covered four management cadres, from manager to senior manager, senior manager to assistant director, assistant director to deputy director and deputy director to director.
According to Ezama, “Cross River indigenes were represented among officers across the affected cadres, with at least seven reportedly due for promotion, but none appeared among the successful candidates.”
Ezama, further claimed that other South South states recorded successful candidates in the exercise, citing reported figures of at least six each from Edo and Delta, three from Bayelsa, eight from Rivers and three from Akwa Ibom, compared with zero for Cross River.
The NPFFT called on NUPRC to provide a state-by-state and cadre-by-cadre breakdown of eligible, assessed and successful officers, subject to appropriate protection of personal information.
It also urged the commission to disclose the eligibility requirements, assessment criteria, score weightings, pass marks and moderation procedures used in the exercise, while allowing affected officers access to their individual results and a fair appeal mechanism.
While calling on NUPRC, the Federal Character Commission, the National Assembly and the Federal Government to review the matter and take corrective action where evidence establishes procedural failure or unfair treatment, it urged affected officers to remain calm and law-abiding.