The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has close the Fuel Supply War Room, confirming the end of the fuel crisis which ravaged the country since December last year. In a statement in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, said that the NNPC would imbibe the lessons garnered during the period of the fuel crisis to improve on its ability to discharge its responsibility as supplier of last resort.
Baru, who was speaking at a brief ceremony to wind down the activities of the NNPC Fuel Supply War Room established at the peak of the fuel crisis, noted that as the supplier of last resort, NNPC would always ensure petroleum products availability nationwide. He said the war room had provided the NNPC with a platform for real-time monitoring, information sharing, process debottlenecking as well as accelerated decision-making by top management.
According to him, the informed decisions that had been taken along the line constituted a new pool of experiences and lessons learnt, deployable towards improving NNPC supply and distribution operations going forward. He said, “After months of consistent efforts, coupled with the doggedness of the War Room lieutenants, who spent days and nights, often sacrificing weekends and public holidays, we were able to take far-reaching actions and arrive at impactful decisions that have turned around the situation from misery to victory.” Baru averred that the NNPC would maintain an eagle eye on the daily Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), or petrol evacuation figures from depots across the nation, and where necessary engage the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) through existing Joint Monitoring Team.
‘’To the leadership of the Security Agencies, I cannot thank you enough for your support while at the same time requesting for more of such as we continue to navigate the waters of the Downstream Sector as the sole importer of the PMS,’’ he said. Also speaking, Mr. Babatunde Adeniran, Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and leader of the Fuel Supply War Room, said the exercise provided invaluable knowledge and capacity building opportunity not only for the War Room members but also for the corporation and the entire oil and gas industry.
While thanking the GMD for the opportunity to serve, he said that members were fulfilled because the supply and distribution challenges faced by the country had been resolved.
The NNPC said the War Room was inaugurated December 4, 2017 as a Rapid Response Committee to manage the then fuel supply and distribution hiccups that arose at the period. It said that the War Room consisted of some of the best hands within the NNPC supply and distribution community, namely, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Petroleum Products Marketing Company, Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company, NNPC Shipping, NNPC Retail Limited, Group Human Resources, the Refineries and Group Security Department as well as the Public Affairs Division.
The NNPC said the team received robust support from relevant regulatory agencies like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) as well as security agencies, especially the Civil Defense Corps, the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Security (DSS).
According to the NNPC, part of the War Room tentacles were the 18 special depot managers and MOMAN coordinators deployed to strategic NNPC and throughput depots, with a view to complementing the existing depot leadership and enhancing transparency and operational efficiency.
