NNPC plots long-term survival strategy
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is fine-tuning strategies to enhance its position as a fully integrated national energy company, ready to prosper despite the changing dynamics of the global Oil and Gas Industry.
A release by Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this at this year’s NNPC First Quarter 2018 Top Management Steering Committee (Steerco) Meeting held at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, weekend.
Dr. Baru, who admitted the tremendous changes at play in the Petroleum Industry landscape globally, said it behooved oil companies to, as a long-time survival strategy, adapt to the changes for efficiency, growth and profitability.
“The changes we are seeing in the industry over the last few years call for some action on our part. This is because as a business concern, we don’t live in isolation in the Industry and therefore, we must act now,” Dr. Baru affirmed.
According to the GMD, some of the strategies considered by the corporation included reviewing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), setting realistic targets for immediate sign-off, as well as spending items capable of improving the organization’s bottom-line.
Other strategies, Dr. Baru noted, are expediting action on the holistic rehabilitation of the refineries; strengthening internal control mechanisms and intensifying exploration efforts in the frontier Basins.
“Today, we are reviewing the mission and vision of the corporation and have also ventured into renewable energy and power sectors,” Dr. Baru added.
Speaking at the meeting, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Downstream, Engr. Henry Ikem-Obih, said a lot of work had been done towards getting NNPC on the same pedestal with its peers, even as he commended the commitment and the resolve of the GMD at investing in NNPC’s downstream supply and distribution assets.
Obih stated that now, the corporation’s focus in the downstream sub-sector revolved around imbibing world-class culture, implementing best practices, focusing on cost reduction, improving efficiency, deploying cutting-edge technologies and having a clean balance sheet that reflects NNPC’s corporate business vision.
“Gradually, we are repositioning from an intervention engine for the nation to one that is ready to make profit, grow and create value for our teeming stakeholders,” Obih stated.
In his opening remarks at the occasion, the convener of the meeting and Group General Manager, Corporate Planning & Strategy Division, Mr. Bala Wunti, said the essence of the Steerco meeting was to review performance, redefine expectations, identify areas of improvement and implement actionable items that would boost efficiency, and conversely, high profitability.
He said the meeting had brought to the fore areas yearning for further improvement which the CP&S Division would vigorously pursue to ensure that the NNPC continue to stand firm on the path of growth and profitability.
“It is important that we do what we need to do like any other NOC to move on the upward trajectory and be able to achieve our mandate of delivering value to our major shareholders, who are Nigerians,” Wunti stated.
On her part, the Legal Adviser to the corporation, Mrs. Hadiza Coomasie, said although, there were a lot of work to be done, positives from the Steerco Meeting would enable NNPC Management to know the current position of corporation and outlook.
The next Steerco meeting comes up in August this year.
