NNPC LAUDED FOR SANITIZING DISTRIBUTION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

d\DR. BARU

The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC under the leadership of the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has been commended for sanitizing the distribution channels of petroleum products in the country.

The Oil and Gas Trainers Association (OGTAN) President, Dr. Mayowa Afe, gave this commendation during a courtesy visit to the GMD at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

In a press statement issued by Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC and made available to the media, it disclosed that OGTAN is the independent umbrella group of training service providers in the oil and gas industry established by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in 2010 representing the education and training sectorial group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) under Section 58 of the NOGICD Act of 2010.

OGTAN President noted that the current transparent nature of petroleum products distribution channels had brought sanity to the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

“Let me congratulate you on the sanity that has come to petroleum products distribution in Nigeria. There is sanity now and we want to thank the NNPC Group for the sanity, openness and transparency they have brought to the distribution of petroleum products in the country”, he said.

“Though there is still much to do, the openness has brought a lot of comfort to Nigerians”, Dr. Afe enthused.

Dr. Afe urged NNPC to collaborate with the association to help domicile more training in Nigeria to reduce capital flight, saying;

“We urge you to partner with OGTAN in the training and development of oil and gas host communities and youths to promote peace and conducive environment for production”.

Responding, Dr. Baru said training was key for the survival of any organization especially the NNPC which was currently undergoing transformation, adding that most of the departments would require OGTAN training to refocus for profitability.

“The visit of OGTAN at this point of our transformation is very apt because the various arms of NNPC require ideas, training and of course refocusing. Many OGTAN members having academic backgrounds as well as practical experience that can help our transformation process in the NNPC”, the NNPC GMD stated.

He noted that the NNPC has a fully integrated working environment which comprises seismic data acquisition, drilling and production of crude oil and gas, processing, shipping and sales as well as refining and distribution of the various petroleum products.

Dr. Maikanti Baru informed that the Corporation welcomes research and innovative ideas and that it would consider working with OGTAN as a local partner to reduce training cost rather than going overseas.

 

“As much as possible, we will continue to utilize the services of OGTAN members in order to upgrade our human resource to be able to meet the daily challenges in the oil and gas industry”, Baru said.

 

Commending OGTAN for growing the training component of the Nigerian Content policy, noting that training was key to growing local expertise for the petroleum sector in the country, Dr. Baru stated that NNPC had been at the fore-front of growing local skills for the oil and gas industry which had led to the rise of indigenous welders and fabricators, while also stressing that some of the trainees were contributing enormously to the development of the industry.