INFLUENCIAL DEFORMITY: ( MY VIEW ON THE BALA WUNTI STORY)

Malam Bala Muhammad Wunti is an upcoming influential personality in Bauchi City and the State at large, his fame come to fruition towards the end of Jonathan Administration when suddenly his name started flying in recognition of his generosity and philanthropic activities being rolled out day after the other, among the people in the Bauchi metropolitan. 

Malam Bala Wunti quickly become a household to many palate within the neighborhood of Wunti Street and environ, and eventually transient to the other parts of the metropolitan Bauchi. 

His generosity encompasses very wide and people have witnessed many from him personally and later metamorphosed to be an NGO a WUNTI ALKHAIRI that performed many philantrophic activities. Hundreds if not thousands have and are being benefitting from this man generosity, giving a right hand gesture to the needy, especially the health seeking persons, the downtrodden and even the middle class personalities are being considered into the welfarism if this honourable gentleman. Bala Wunti has been a great pillar on this and nothing can erase that. 

Bala Wunti is a thoroughbred oil and gas industry professional with almost a 30 years' experience covering Technical, Commercial, Managerial and Executive roles. 

Bala Maijama'a Wunti was born in 1970 in a neighborhood called Wunti Street in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi South Senatorial District, Bauchi State. He had his secondary school education at Government Science School, Toro, (Now Government  College) Bauchi State where he graduated with a WASSCE. He graduated from the Famous ABU Zaria with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry.

Wunti hold a master’s degree from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and is an alumni of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Bala Wunti is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and the Chemical Society of Nigeria. An academic juggernaut as he is, no wonder he doesn't shy away from a public speaking scenes whenever it comes up unto him. 

Bala Wunti’s career with NNPC began in 1991. From 2010 to 2015, he served as the Senior Technical Advisor to the Group Managing Director of NNPC. He then took on the role of General Manager of the Efficiency Unit to the Group Managing Director from 2015 to 2016. His journey continued as the General Manager and Technical Advisor on Downstream from 2016 to 2017, and subsequently as the Group General Manager of NNPC Corporate Planning and Strategy from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, he was appointed the Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a position he held until 2020.

In 2025, Wunti has appointed as the Chief Health, Safety, and Environment Officer at NNPC Limited. While there are calls to President Tinubu to appoint Wunti as the chief executive of NNPC, Mele Kyari-led team, alongside Bala Wunti and others, has its name written in gold in the history of the Nigerian oil sector despite challenges and distractions within and outside the sector.

WHAT IS HIS MAIN DUTY IN THE NNPC?

Since joining NNPC, Mr. Wunti has held several key positions in NNPC. He is currently the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) responsible for managing Nigeria Government’s investment in the Upstream sector of the Oil & Gas Industry

Bala Wunti is responsible for overseeing all aspects of worker health, safety, and environmental compliance within the company’s operations, ensuring adherence to industry regulations and promoting a culture of safety across all levels.

THE INFLUENTIAL DEFORMITY 

Indeed, Malam Bala Maijama'a Wunti is one of those we can attest to have been born with a golden spoon, God has buttered his bread and it is paying graciously and we thank God for having such a man among us that can answer his name anywhere anytime. 

From 2019 to date the grapevine in the midst of many people is that, Bala Wunti may join the Bus of politics in Bauchi State, many people sees his philantrophic activities as paving a way for a political pushing to make himself the number one citizen of the State comes the stream of 2027 elections. Although Bala Wunti has been with the NNPC for about or for 30 years and above, those of us that grow up in Bauchi would not attested to recruitment dedicated to his blessings, there are many young people graduated from various universities across the Nation and they are indigenes of Bauchi LGA, but I don't know of any records whether secretly or openly that Malam Bala Wunti has a hand in getting them or as many as possible a job offers to the young stars of Bauchi LGA not to speak of the Bauchi South or the State at large. Has it been there are any or many that may likely came from his immediate neighbours of Wunti Street, by now we would have been getting names flying with reference of household that got the blessings of having their sons and daughters working in either mainstream or upstream offices across the Nation or in the main building of the NNPCL. 

In as much as we want to back and applaud a good gesture, we have to tell the truth and ask ourselves. 

Yes! Malam Bala Wunti is a good man, his generosity encompasses almost everyone when it comes to distribution of food stuff during every time of festivities, Rice, Brocades, animals for sacrifices etc, but why not celebrate the numbers of young people that got recruited into various professional fields of Jobs, today in Bauchi South we can't attest to have a list of 100 people that got FG jobs through this man, if not up to 100 let have a fingers count that came from his immediate constituency. 

I know many people would chose to be naive and read me through a negative lens, but let call a spade a spade, I hate making an example of the Bauchi North people, if a Katagum Emirate man got a position like the one Wunti is occupying, by now the main building HQ of the NNPC would have been a small Capital city of the Guddiri State, because that man would maneuver every chance to insert a Katagum man there. It is different with the Bauchi South people and that's what has been itching and hurting our feelings in this part of the State, why would our own people keep dragging the youth progress despite being blessed with all manners of powers that give them the ability to wield a wand of magic that can be done and undo.

Apart from that, there is no any empowerment exercise that the man has ever done to the teaming skilful youths of this Senatorial District or the State at large. Vocational training empowerment, technical support as well as educational scholarships to the teaming students of this Senatorial District, I might be ignorant of these, but will need to have a clarification and evidence to that, if there are any. 

My quarrel with Bala wunti is not a personal one, it's a patriotic querrel which has been wobbling in my mind for long time, asking myself why shall we keep having people that don't care about the younger generation from this divide of the State? Why would our other divide become famous in this act when it comes to pushing their own youngsters into lucrative position that can keep giving them all the advantages over us. Politics beget asking questions, and we shall ask Bala Wunti to produce to us a brochure of his capital development investment he did on the young people of Bauchi LGA, Bauchi South Senatorial District. We will ask him to produce to us a list as an evidence of his helping wand wielded on the young people that get recruited into NNPC and it's subsidiaries. We love his various philanthropy meted to the needy, in fact we are very much proud of him on doing that, not all of them that got the same opportunity has actually does the way he is doing. But at this juncture, we need him to concentrate more on securing jobs opportunities to the upcoming graduates, thereby guaranteeing us of having More of Bala Wunti in the future. 

Mal. Ahmad Salihu is writing from Bauchi metropolitan (Bauchi South Senatorial District)

ahmad.msalihu22@gmail.com