Sacked ExxonMobil Employee Breaks Academic Record in Canadian University

On May 10, news broke that Ernest Omo-Ojo, a Nigerian who migrated to Canada to study, had won the overall best student award at Herzing College, Ottawa, Canada.

By winning the award, Omo-Ojo became the first student from the school’s Ottawa campus to emerge the winner.

Herzing College is over 55 years old. It has a total of seven campuses in Canada and the United States.

Before Omo-Ojo’s feat, no student from the Ottawa Campus had ever won the award.

Tagged the Herzing Cup, the award is given annually to exceptional students who specialise in high-demand skills in the institution

The road to success, however, has not always been smooth for the Nigerian scholar.

FIJ found that the student was once a victim of an indiscriminate sacking by Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MNPU), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.

The sacking occurred on June 24, 2019.

During the period, Omo-Ojo accused the company of terminating his appointment without following the rules set by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), now known as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPR).

In his cry for help then, Omo-Ojo also said the company terminated his appointment without proper approval from the Ministry of Petroleum, and without stating the compensations that were due to him.

In May 2022, after three years of petitioning relevant authorities, writing a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, and having meetings and even court appearances, MPNU withdrew the termination letter issued to Omo-Ojo.

After this, he was allowed to resign from the company.

When Omo-Ojo relocated to Canada with his family, he authored two books. One of the books is titled The Audacious Faith.

The book, which dwelt extensively on self improvement, also touched on his experiences while at MPNU.