By Christy Anyanwu
FIDELIS Onikoye rose through the ranks at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC to become the Technical Adviser to the Deputy General Manager, Shipping before his retirement last year after 35 years of meritorious service. Today, he owns Phollynike Petroleum and Energy Limited located at Ojokoro-Meiran axis along Lagos-Abeokuta expressesway. He’s into down stream exploration and also some aspects of upstream like supply of petroleum products, retail and marketing, oil drilling and LPG. Speaking with Sunday Sun in Lagos, he reveals that his priority this year is to establish an operational office in Suleja and he also shed more light on the oil and gas sector. Excerpts:
Could you reflect on your early years at NNPC?
When I started at NNPC, I was posted to the legal department and I was like the secretary to the corporation. We were quite young while we did in-service training. We entered as National Diploma holders and from there I decided to read Law, Management Studies and Political Science. You don’t have to sit down somewhere and fold your hands. If you didn’t train yourself, they regarded you as a dead wood and in any retrenchment you might go. But if they noticed you have potentials and are training yourself you have an edge. That was how I was able to survive 35 years in service.
After working for 35 years at NNPC, one would have thought you would rest in your retirement. What made you start your business?
The way pension scheme is structured in NNPC is like once you are 35 years in service, definitely you should be 60 years old or close to that. And at 60 years, your kids are out of school and you are retired, they pay your gratuity. Your pension should be very okay if you are not the greedy type. But I’m not 60 yet. I’m 55 years and I still have another five years to go. So, I’m retired but not tired. I left NNPC last year. My plan is to work for myself for at least another five years. When I clock 60 by God’s grace, my kids in the university would have graduated. Then I’ll hang my boots.
Why did you invest in oil and gas business?
I have been in oil and gas sector for 35 years. What else do you want me to do? Where do you want me to start from again? Actually, I also planned to go into entertainment. My wife has a passion for organizing events. I’m thinking of a Phollynike Entertainment but I just want to focus now on oil and gas. Then if anything comes out from there, we could diversify into entertainment and events, which also are very lucrative these days although capital intensive. I want the event centre to be in Surulere, Lagos if possible. All my life, I have lived in Surulere and I have been trying to get a place around that axis but it’s been very difficult. But I won’t give up.
While working at NNPC did you envisage having your own business someday?
Actually, I was very young when I joined NNPC. You have to plan yourself. So, why won’t an individual plan his life and what he wants to do in the next four years? When I left, I now realised that thing called fear of the unknown. I could have left NNPC earlier. When I left, people started coming, calling for consultancy. I think ahead now. When I was in the system, I was so relaxed. But now, I think like a planner who wants to achieve this and that within a stipulated period unlike waiting for my annual promotion in NNPC.
What makes you think you would succeed in oil and gas business?
If you are not lazy, you will succeed in whatever you set out to do. I keep telling my friends, if you can work in an organization like NNPC, CBN and all those parastatals, you must have gained so much experience. And I worked for 35 years. There’s no way you leave and you just want to sit down at home. The experience you garnered would motivate you to start something. Thankfully, I have a partner, a friend, Segun Ogbon who is the Chief Executive Officer of the business and a Project Manager who are very efficient. Then the staff follows.
Did you invest your savings or did you start with a loan?
Capital wise, immediately I got my gratuity, which was very okay, I kick-started the business. I won’t deceive you.
They paid your gratuity immediately?
NNPC Pensions Nigeria Limited is one of the best in Nigeria today, because it’s well managed. Once you are leaving, just give them three months and you are paid. Meanwhile, I started the registration of my company about six months before my retirement. You have to be proactive. I registered the company with my money. I obtained a loan from the bank to get the first retail outlet at Ojokoro Meiran facility. I now gave it to total. Total paid me on certain commission of their sales monthly. I used that money again to liquidate the bank loan. Immediately I collected my gratuity, I told myself I won’t mess up. My children are abroad and now that I’m retired, I want to meet up and I don’t want to stress my wife. I paid part of the bank loan and the balance I gave to my wife for the children’s education fund. We opened the fund for our kids when they were six months old. When people gave them money that money goes into the educational fund account.
We developed that account up till today. Before then, I had a flat at NNPC Housing Estate in Abuja. It was monetized then for N6million and the property now appreciated by almost 10 times. When I was planning for my retirement, I sold the flat first and used part of the proceeds to renovate where I live now in Surulere and I used part of it to enroll my son in Canada. Then the following year, his sister joined him in Canada. The NNPC flat I sold in Garki eventually helped me first to do the foundation. My gratuity now came too and I used that to perfect everything.
Would you advise people to go into oil business?
The most important thing is the availability of the product. Those days you hardly get fuel, because some people hoard it and take the product to Cotonou or Maiduguri for sale. Now, take it Cotonou or wherever for sale, it’s still the same price. I was in the system; the last regime really bastardized the upstream. The oil block given out to different individuals affected the nation. The money was shared by some cabals that were in control. Our multinationals Agip (Italians) Chevron, (Americans) Mobil (Americans) you people call them International oil companies refused to leave Nigeria because they knew what they are gaining. They kill and kidnap them everyday, yet they are still around. They would have gone to neighboring countries but they’ve seen the potentials of the oil and gas in Nigeria. If the business were not lucrative they would have gone since.
Any challenge in the business?
To be frank, it’s not easy to pay salary because I have not experienced it before. If my pension comes in on time, I use it to pay salaries and motivate the staff. I know definitely that I will sort myself out.
What’s your vision for this business in five years?
We want to go upstream. We are purely into the down stream now at the Ojokoro facility and we are trying to get one in Suleja that’ s why I shuttle between Lagos to Abuja. I have been in Abuja since 1999, hence my desire to also have my business there. Our aim is to promote excellent service delivery and value added services aimed at not only satisfying but also delighting our esteemed customers.
You said you survived eight retrenchments in NNPC. How did you do it?
I wasn’t a deadwood and I had potential. I’m well educated and I kept improving myself. Through on-the-job training, I trained myself and informed NNPC. Some of my colleagues in those days, schooled abroad. They traveled to Dundee and they informed the organization, got their leave and went there to write their exams. We didn’t wait for the organization to train us. Move, then the organization would know you are serious. They would want to help you too. Interest on the job is important too. In some department, ‘chop chop’ would not allow you to do anything while you are trying to grab from one end to the other. All those things don’t last. You have to build yourself for the future.
Is it advisable to stay up to 35 years on a job before retirement?
Let’s leave the system and leave the younger ones to come in. Being 31 years on the job, I called my colleagues and told them we are old, let’s go. Allow new blood to come in. But they were not ready to go. Before my retirement, my boss called me and begged me, please we want to give you one-year contract, I said no. I wanted to go. After 34 years at the legal department they now posted me to shipping. I was the technical adviser to DGM shipping. The guys called me and said I should stay for six months and train my replacement, but I had made up my mind to go. Old people should leave. Let younger people come in. Forget about first class and distinction. Train them and they would pick up fast. The youths are so much in a hurry. A girl who read Law served in my office and I saw her recently, I asked where she is now, she said she travels to Dubai to buy gold instead of practicing Law. I didn’t get my first car until after 13 years of working; I rode the staff bus a lot. I started at NNPC Falomo, then to Kofo Abayomi before I was transferred to Abuja. Children of these days are not ready to wait they are so much in a hurry.
What’s your advice for young school leavers?
If you can afford it, there’s nothing bad in you starting your own business. I saw a popcorn machine given to us when we got married. I called a lady that sells card at the junction to my house if she could make popcorn. I gave her the machine. She has started doing popcorn. Now, she sells the popcorn more than recharge cards. She happier now. If your parents have money, borrow money from them or ask them. Start something. If you are ready to work, start somewhere, even if it’s teaching. When we were transferred to Abuja, we were traveling in night buses to Lagos to see our families. We couldn’t afford plane tickets but some of these boys when you fly; sometimes you see them in first class or business class. They are on the fast lane. There were temptations when I was in the system. I was exposed to vital documents and oil operators will come regarding some treaties signed by the Federal Government. They wanted information and came with loads of money in hard currencies, I just laughed. There are lots of temptations. Youths of these days would have succumbed. I survived eight retrenchments in NNPC. It’s not by my power but by the grace of God. At the same time, you need to build yourself.