Kunle Odusola-Stevenson
In as we speak’s world vitality panorama, the actual measure of company energy isn’t solely in barrels lifted or revenues declared. Increasingly, it’s discovered within the high quality of stakeholder relationships and belief an organization can maintain — relationships with regulators who approve, traders who fund, communities who host, and companions who collaborate. Essentially, relationships throughout the enterprise ecosystem. For the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), this important accountability rests squarely on the shoulders of the Chief Relations Officer (CRO), a task now held by Mrs. Morenike Adewunmi, a lawyer and achieved vitality government with a world pedigree.
The CRO function is usually misunderstood, typically confused with the standard Chief Communications Officer. Yet the excellence is profound. The Chief Communications Officer tells the story; the Chief Relations Officer ensures that the correct individuals consider in that story and stand with the corporate when it issues most. Put in a different way, the CRO’s work is about “who we have on our side” — stakeholders, regulators, traders, communities, and world companions. Without them, even probably the most compelling technique dangers collapse.
Mrs. Adewunmi’s appointment couldn’t have come at a extra vital time. NNPC Ltd is present process a daring transformation right into a commercially pushed, globally aggressive vitality firm, a journey that requires not simply operational effectivity, however legitimacy within the eyes of those that maintain affect over its future. This legitimacy can’t be purchased or marketed; it have to be earned by means of constant trust-building, coverage advocacy, and stakeholder diplomacy. That is the essence of the CRO’s mandate.
Her profession path displays the depth required for this workplace. A lawyer by coaching, she holds a Law diploma from the Ogun State University and was known as to the Nigerian Bar. Her skilled journey features a distinguished tenure at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the broader Shell Group, the place she held senior roles spanning authorized advisory, enterprise relations, and authorities affairs. Within Shell, she developed a status for her capacity to navigate advanced stakeholder interfaces, regulatory frameworks, and craft partnerships that superior each company objectives and nationwide pursuits. These abilities are actually essential to NNPC Ltd because it positions itself on the frontline of Africa’s vitality future.
As CRO, she is liable for shaping the corporate’s relationships with all of the tiers of presidency, regulators, traders, host communities, and worldwide establishments. Her workplace is the place coverage is defined, belief is negotiated, and legitimacy is consolidated. Every profitable engagement that secures regulatory approval, each investor and shareholder satisfied of NNPC’s credibility, each neighborhood that embraces partnership relatively than protest — these quiet victories are the outcomes of a succesful CRO.
But past the technicalities, her appointment additionally carries symbolic weight. In an business lengthy dominated by males, the rise of a girl into such a strategic and visual management function indicators an necessary shift towards inclusivity. For younger professionals, particularly ladies aspiring to careers in regulation, vitality, and company management, Mrs. Adewunmi represents each chance and proof that excellence can shatter ceilings. She is taken into account probably the greatest SMEs on non technical dangers.
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NNPC Ltd’s journey into the long run shall be formed not simply by the vitality it produces, however by the boldness and belief it conjures up. And confidence comes from relationships — from “who we have on our side.” In Mrs. Morenike Adewunmi, NNPC Ltd has not solely appointed a Chief Relations Officer; it has invested in a custodian of belief, a bridge-builder, and a strategist of legitimacy.
As Nigeria navigates the vitality transition and seeks to draw funding whereas deepening native content material, the CRO’s function will stay indispensable. It is the quiet pressure that ensures insurance policies align, communities cooperate, traders commit, and the corporate’s status endures. In this sense, the CRO is much less a back-office government and extra a frontline architect of company survival and nationwide progress.
Mrs. Adewunmi embodies that significance. She isn’t merely telling NNPC Ltd’s story — she is making certain that the individuals who matter most consider it, assist it, and stroll alongside the corporate into the long run. And in as we speak’s vitality world, which may be probably the most worthwhile asset of all.
Kunle Odusola-Stevenson is an vitality communications strategist and coverage commentator in Nigeria’s oil and fuel sector.
